


Paint a Wolf

by GalaxyKitty



Category: Septiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Cute, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, I'm pretty sure, M/M, Mates, Mating, Mating Cycles/In Heat, More like ranks, Scenting, Sleepy Cuddles, Tags May Change, True Mates, Werewolves, Wolf Cuddles, Wolf Instincts, Wolf!Mark, kind of, wolf!Jack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-06-01 13:23:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15144017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyKitty/pseuds/GalaxyKitty
Summary: Jack lived alone in a house near a wonderful forest and he would often go on walks to see the beauty of it all. One day, however, he accidentally got bitten by one of the animals there, too dark to see, and finds it mysteriously heal quicker than normal.But now the real question is... why is there a wolf suddenly at his house and following him around?This is a made-up fanfic with no connection to the real people.





	1. Bitten Like a Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* I have other stories to update, yet my mind writes yet another one.  
> I've been working on this story for about a week or two, though, and intended it on being one full chapter but it started getting too long so here is chapter one.
> 
> This is, of course, a wolf story (because honestly everyone writes at least one in their life, right?), but it's a little different than normal, but cute none the less. I currently do have smut planned, but I also do love me some good story so there's plot too. You get both!

It was a cool evening, winds blowing slowly and ruffling the brunet’s hair ever so slightly. The stars were just now starting to become visible in the slowly-turning-purple sky as night was gradually beginning to rise.

Jack lived out in a secluded part of the forest, his house resting in an open clearing of grass with a dirt path leading back to town, but his grassy backyard led to the huge land of the forest beyond.

The brunet was a writer and artist, loving the fresh air and beauty of nature and chose to move out to the land for inspiration. He had an easel sitting on his back porch with a large canvas already half painted resting on it. Once in a while, some of the wild life would pay him a visit and he would paint portraits of them, selling them when he went to the market every weekend.

When the sky got darker, Jack looked into the line of trees just ahead of him and decided to take a walk. He found that the wildlife around here weren’t hostile and as long as he kept his distance, they kept theirs. He also hasn’t seen any of the famously scary ones like bears or wolves; he mostly sees deer, a large variety of smaller animals like raccoons, rabbits, and foxes, lots of birds, and he thought he saw some type of smaller wild cat before.

He wore his short sleeved white t-shirt and old jeans, putting his hands in his pockets as he entered the forest and walked the familiar path that he’s walked many times before.

The night was calm, crickets beginning to chirp their tune as Jack slowly walked through the forest. The air smelled of fresh pine, the sky was clear, the trees and leaves swayed gracefully with the wind and let in silver streaks from the moon, lighting Jack’s path.

The beauty of it all was one of Jack’s favorite parts of living outside of town like this.

He started humming a simple tune, taking in the sights of the woods even though he’s seen it many times before, but then he saw two seemingly glowing eyes in the distance.

Jack stopped humming and paused to look at the creature, but it didn’t stay for long and quickly darted off into a different direction. Jack was now curious and decided to follow the direction that it went, still walking slowly so he didn’t scare it if he found it again, and started looking around at the new trees in the area.

He walked for a while, keeping track of where he went so he could backtrack when it was time to go home, and brushed his fingers gently across the trees and smiled.

He then came across a cliff, not too high off the ground, but high enough to be dangerous as Jack walked over to it and looked down at the continuation of the forest below. He’s never been over in this direction before, but the view from the edge was fascinating.

Jack’s smile grew as he moved to sit down on the edge, feet dangling over nothing as he took in the view. The trees below him had a thin fog over them, reflecting the starlight and appearing to be more silver than normal, and the quietness of the night was painting a lovely picture in his head. He thought about bringing one of his canvases out here to paint the view some time; it was really spectacular.

He heard a slight crumbling sound, not recognizing where it came from at first, and continued to stare out into the distance. The crumbling sound became louder and he looked directly below to see rubble falling down from where he was sitting, finally realizing that the edge he was sitting on wasn’t strong enough to hold him up like this and was beginning to collapse.

Jack panicked after realizing he could fall any moment, but the force of him hastily getting up only served to weaken the hold more and collapsed with Jack still there, causing the man to lose his footing and begin to fall.

He reached his hands up to grab onto the ledge, anything really, to prevent himself from falling, but only held on for a few moments before the dirt started to slip.

Just as he thought he was going to fall and be gone for good, something grabbed onto his left arm and _hurt_.

He let out a harsh yell and looked at his arm to see a creature biting him, seeing blood beginning to fall from the wound, but the creature was also somehow holding him up. He saw the creature’s eyes, the same glowing silver from before, and watched as its muscles tensed and it growled as it pulled back against the edge, slowly bringing Jack up.

Jack reached his free hand up and grabbed onto the ledge when it came in range again, helping the creature pull his weight up until he was high enough up to crawl over the edge.

He stumbled a little bit away from the cliff, making sure he wouldn’t be in danger of falling again, and then fell to his knees as he grabbed his left arm in his other hand, wincing at the pain. His arm was painted red, blood falling onto the ground quickly, and Jack started panicking for a different reason now. He clenched his teeth and took heavy breaths, not wanting to scream but feeling like he should as he stared at the bloody mess. He looked at his left hand and weakly moved his fingers, noting that they _could_ still move at least and that’s good. He lifted his head to try to find the creature again, but it was nowhere in sight.

Jack frowned and decided to quickly make his way back to his house to treat the wound. The doctor in town would surely be closed at this hour and they didn’t have an emergency room, the nearest one would take a long time to get to, so Jack would have to do what he could at home and visit the doctor first thing in the morning.

Maybe it wasn’t an emergency and just looked worse than it was?

Jack stumbled home, losing blood and beginning to go light headed, but managed to walk up to his second story room where he had medical supplies in the bathroom there. He opened up the cabinet and pulled out the kit, setting everything out on the counter as he turned on the faucet and washed off the blood, grimacing as the sink turned red.

Once the blood was washed up, Jack was able to get a better view of the wound, noting that it was indeed a bite mark as more blood began to fall out of the marks.

Jack grabbed a disinfectant spray and hissed as it stung his arm, then grabbed a type of lotion to put over the wound, frowning more as it mixed with blood that wouldn’t let up, and quickly wrapped a strong large band aid and gauze over the wound.

His arm was still hurting like hell and he grabbed a painkiller, taking it quickly with faucet water before walking over to his bed to lie down, leaving the equipment out because he knew he would need to replace the bandaid thing he had going tomorrow.

He just really wanted to sleep so he didn’t have to be awake for the pain.

...

Jack blinked his eyes open to the sunlight streaming in from the window next to his bed. He sat up and groaned, feeling groggy and slightly nauseous, but noticed that his arm didn’t hurt… like at all. It was sore and uncomfortable, but it didn’t _hurt_. Maybe the painkiller was still in affect?

He padded over to the bathroom, seeing the now pink sink and supplies still scattered around on the counter and slowly peeled off the gauze from his arm, wincing when it stung his arm a little. The white gauze and bandaid were blood red, of course, but when he washed off the old blood from his arm, he noticed that the wound closed up considerably and wasn’t bleeding anymore. The bite mark was still obvious to see, but it looked more like an old wound than one he got just last night.

Jack didn’t know what to think of it, only frowning more from confusion, and decided to take the drive to town to visit the doctor still, even though the wound didn’t look fatal anymore.

He quickly shuffled down the stairs of his wooden home, grabbing the keys to his little truck and driving down the dirt path.

Once he reached town, he parked by the doctor’s office and walked into the building, checking in with the lady at the counter and describing what happened.

Luckily, since the town was fairly small, there weren’t many people to wait for and he was called up quickly.

He didn’t rewrap his arm, showing the wound to the doctor and explained what happened again.

“Are you sure this happened last night?” The doctor questioned.

“Yes, I got bit, bled everywhere, wrapped it in gauze and stuff, went to sleep, and came straight here after I woke up.”

“Hmm, I’m thinking you may have been experiencing a form of panic that caused you to see something worse than what it actually was. This wound has healed considerably as well, not something than can be done in one night; maybe this was an event that happened a long while ago and you had a type of nightmare that made it seem like it just now happened last night.”

Jack frowned, arguing that he was sure it happened yesterday, but the doctor shrugged and said he was just stating a logical explanation for it.

He gave Jack a different type of painkiller in case it started hurting again but told him that it didn’t look like he was in danger and it would heal over time, most likely leaving a scar.

Jack drove back home in silence, a little upset that the doctor thought he was crazy or hallucinating, but he didn’t have a logical explanation for how it healed so fast either.

He decided he just wanted to relax and went back to the back porch when he arrived home, sitting on his little stool and setting a cup of water and paints out to continue the project he was working on.

He took out his phone after a little bit and turned on a playlist of movie soundtracks to listen to while he worked, appreciating the music without the need to use words.

The brunet would occasionally look up from the canvas to look at the trees and sky ahead for reference, until he looked up again to see a wolf sitting a few feet in front of him.

Jack paused and stared at the wolf, brown eyes with a sleek black coat of fur.

The wolf didn’t move, keeping a steady gaze on him, and Jack stared back.

“Uh… hi.” Jack said hesitantly.

The wolf didn’t respond - of course he didn’t, he’s a wolf – and Jack just huffed.

The animal didn’t seem like it was going to try to attack him so Jack kept an eye on it for a little bit as he continued painting.

The wolf didn’t move and it was starting to concern Jack a little, wondering if this was normal behavior for wolves, but then started thinking that it was nice to be sitting with another living creature even if it was staring without moving.

Besides, it looked cool; wolves are cool.

Jack still had space to fill on his painting and decided to take the opportunity to paint the wolf into the canvas, seeing its unmoving stature as a chance to accurately draw it.

“Hmm, maybe I’m just crazy and hallucinating wolves now.” Jack said aloud, not really caring about the wolf being there.

He glanced over at the creature, huffing when it still didn’t move, but continued talking anyway.

“Were you the guy who bit my arm last night?” Jack continued. “Wait… are you a guy anyway? You look like a guy wolf… I’m gonna pretend you’re a guy wolf.”

The wolf seemed to puff at that, causing Jack to look back at him from the movement. Was this what it was like when people talked to their pets?

“Okay, mister guy wolf, maybe you can explain to me why I got bit only for the wound to heal overnight and cause the doctor to think I’m crazy.” Jack hummed.

The wolf got up from its spot and walked over to Jack, causing the human to freeze as the creature walked right up to the porch and laid down on the grass right in front of it.

“Maybe I just slept for a week straight… and didn’t starve…? No, maybe the bite just wasn’t as bad as I thought… or I have super healing.”

The wolf lifted his head and stared at Jack with big brown eyes again.

“Nah.” Jack rolled his eyes. “I’m thinking I just got bit and it hit an important vein or something which caused it to make the wound bleed more than it actually should have and the bite wound wasn’t nearly as deep as I thought so it closed overnight since it wasn’t big.”

The wolf huffed again and set its head down. Maybe it was a really burly dog?

“Well, you’re a good listener at least.” Jack chuckled.

Jack spent the rest of the morning painting and talking to the wolf, finding it nice to say things out loud to another living creature even if it didn’t respond with words. Sometimes the wolf would make head movements or little sounds, though, and Jack entertained the thought of the wolf actually being able to understand him.

After he was done painting, he smiled at his piece – a scene in the forest with a few birds and now the wolf painted in.

“Look, I drew you.” Jack chuckled as he took the canvas off the easel and brought it down for the wolf to look at.

He let the wolf look at it before turning it around again to carry it inside.

The brunet opened the back door stepping inside and looked back at the wolf who hasn’t move from his spot on the grass.

“Well… uh… nice talking to you? I’m gonna go now…” Jack hummed, wondering why he was still talking to an animal anyway but closed the door as he brought the picture in.

...

Jack found the wolf quite often, usually waiting for him there in the morning, though the brunet saw him less during the evening and nights. He started growing fond of the wolf, though, since it seemed to enjoy Jack’s presence and never appeared to be hostile. The brunet started talking to the wolf more, telling him about his day and his projects and some of the things others have said when he sells his pieces at the market.

He was surprised when he went on one of his forest strolls to find the wolf walking with him, but wasn’t bothered by the extra set of prints on the ground with his.

The two of them walked around between the trees and came across the cliff where Jack had fallen that night. The brunet frowned and looked down at his arm, seeing that the wound had completely healed over time and there was no scar to be seen.

He didn’t hallucinate all of that, right?

Was everything, the walk, the fall, the doctor visit, was all of that just one really huge dream?

Jack started feeling sick at the thought of hallucinating something so real and tensed up, feeling uncomfortable.

He then heard the wolf whine and rub against his leg, almost tall enough to be rubbing his hip, and brought Jack out of his thoughts. He sighed, still upset, but turned around to go back home, no longer wanted to be outside anymore.

The wolf followed him home, stopping at the porch and sitting down as Jack opened the door to go inside again.

“You have your own home, you know...” Jack said sadly as he closed the door and walked upstairs to lay in bed again.

 

Jack woke up the next morning and walked down to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee for himself, resting against the counter and sipping the warm drink as he looked out the window and noticed the wolf curled up on the grass by the porch.

Did he stay there all night?

Jack was confused since the wolf didn’t normally stay at his house and set his mug down to walk to the backdoor and out to the porch. The wolf perked his ears up and lifted his head when he heard Jack approaching, but didn’t move any more than that.

“Did you sleep out here all night?” Jack questioned.

Weren’t wolves nocturnal or something anyway? Why was he sleeping at night?

The creature laid his head back down and seemed sad, making Jack sad as well, and the human let out a sigh.

“If I let you inside, do you promise not to break anything?” Jack asked, not expecting an answer but seeing the wolf lift his head up and wag his tail lightly anyway.

“Fine, c’mon then.” Jack murmured and walked over to the door again, opening it widely and gesturing for the wolf to enter, even more surprised when it seemed to understand him.

Maybe it was a wolf who was trained by humans… somehow?

Jack walked back over to the kitchen, looking through the fridge for something to eat as well as some type of meat for the wolf who was probably hungry as well.

“You like bacon?” Jack asked and glanced back at the wolf who was standing a few feet from him with a wagging tail. “Of course you do, everyone likes bacon.”

He got out the food and opened up the packaging, turning on the stove and setting a pan out for the bacon.

After the food was finished cooking, he cleaned up all the equipment while he waited for the bacon to cool down, eventually going to sit down on the couch in the living room with the wolf who was sitting at his feet.

He was a very well trained wolf, however it was.

Jack turned on the television as he started eating, tossing a few pieces to the wolf as well, and the two of them ate through the bacon rather quickly.

“Note to self, buy more bacon next time.” Jack mumbled to himself, earning a heavy breath from the wolf, almost like a laugh.

Sometime between shows on the t.v., Jack started petting the wolf, and the creature didn’t seem upset over it but instead liked it, leaning his head on Jack’s lap and wagging his tail more.

“You’re a nice wolf.” Jack hummed, scratching behind the furry ears, causing the tail to wag faster.

Jack realized he has spent more time with this wolf than any other human since he moved out here and started wondering what that meant.

He doesn’t _have_ to talk with humans, right? Talking with the wolf was nice, even if it didn’t speak words back, it still seemed to respond in a way.

And Jack also noticed that there was something in the back of his mind, very subtle, but it wanted him to stay with the wolf, wanting to make sure the creature was happy.

The brunet has been having a lot of weird feelings like that lately, sensing things he usually couldn’t as well heightened abilities like his sense of smell, balance, and hand-eye coordination. It wasn’t alarmingly different, which is why Jack never was bothered too much by it, but he was a little concerned when he threw out half of his fridge from things that smelled bad. The market must have been poor that week for his grocery to go bad like that.

When he was making dinner two nights ago, he noticed his skill with a knife got a lot sharper, no pun intended, since he was usually timid and careful with a knife but was able to cut through the ingredients quickly without an ounce of hesitation. It even seemed almost as if he was getting stronger, being able to lift up a huge box of his art supplies when moving them around without even a grunt.

It would make sense for him to improve his skills over time, though, just by practice and doing it over and over.

Maybe Jack did need to hang out with another human some time…

Jack let the wolf stay inside for a bit, under close supervision, but after dinner, he led the creature back outside. He stayed out for a bit himself, getting out a simple drawing pad and pencil, and started drawing a sketch of the wolf.

Some time during the sketch, the wolf moved to sit next to Jack and looked over at the paper as if he was really looking at the drawing.

“You’re a pretty wolf.” Jack smiled and the wolf seemed to rub up against his arm.

He didn’t know if he was making things seem more than they are, but he really thought the wolf acted more human than normal.

Once night fell, Jack stood up from his spot and walked back over to the door, stepping inside and looking back at the wolf who stayed on the grass like before.

“Don’t stay out here all night again, you’re gonna make me feel bad.” Jack murmured, getting used to speaking to the animal regardless of whether it understood him or not.

The next morning, Jack looked out the window and saw the wolf had left.

...

The wolf returned every day, leaving each night like Jack had requested, but came back each morning.

Jack started to let the wolf inside the house during the day as well, showing him drawings, paintings, sketches, reading him parts of his stories, talking to him about whatever was on his mind… He found it relaxing to just get out whatever was floating around in his head.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever find someone, ya know?” Jack started mumbling to the wolf, sitting together on the floor watching a random t.v. show.

The wolf had his head resting on Jack’s lap and the brunet was gently petting the fur on his head.

“Some of the townspeople think I’m strange for living out here alone. I heard that some people think I’m crazy… or something… because I don’t stay in town like normal people, living with a family and hanging out with neighbors…”

The wolf picked up his head a little, only enough to look at Jack’s face.

“I didn’t choose to live out here because I don’t like people or anything, I just really like the peacefulness of nature, and the serenity of life just… living. My work lets me live at my own pace, do what I want, no boss or stress or anything…”

The wolf nuzzled his legs.

“And I like being closer to the wildlife and the trees, getting to go on walks out at night and… strangely finding a wolf who acts like a dog.”

The wolf put a paw up on his legs.

“I know you can’t understand me, but you sure do act like it.” Jack chuckled, scratching his fur and smiling when his tail started to wag more, leaning over to hug the furry creature.

That odd feeling in the back of his mind returned, still subtle, but it was a small hint of happiness for being with the wolf like this.

That night, Jack went out on a walk with the wolf again, trying a new direction and enjoying the wolf’s company. He had grown attached to the creature, just as a person would with a beloved dog, and started wondering if he should name him.

“If we’re gonna be friends, then I can’t keep calling you ‘wolf’ all the time.” Jack said calmly, holding his hands behind his back as he enjoyed the new path of trees.

The wolf was keeping a steady pace next to him, glancing up at the brunet when he mentioned a name.

“Hmm… your coat is a wonderful shade of black, like the clearest midnight sky.” Jack hummed, thinking to himself about a name. “I could call ya Midna, but that’s feminine and the name of a character in Legend of Zelda.”

The wolf huffed at that.

“I don’t want to give you a boring name… or one that everyone else picks…”

The wolf let out a quiet woof at that.

“Should call ya Bark.”

The wolf then actually barked at that, looking displeased.

“Bark the wolf.”

The wolf started growling softly, not looking threatening, but obviously upset over the name.

“What, you can’t speak, how am I supposed to give you a name you like? Bark is one syllable, easy to say.”

The wolf ran ahead of the brunet and started pawing at the ground. Jack furrowed his brows but as he walked up to the ground, he noticed the wolf drew some type of pattern on the ground looking roughly like the letter M.

“Wark the wolf.”

The wolf pawed at the dirt some more.

“Mark the wolf.”

He paused and walked back to Jack’s leg, rubbing against it some more.

“Alrighty then, Mark it is.”

The rules of having an animal friend always says than naming the animal is like signing a contract of keeping it forever.

Jack liked the wolf, Mark; he was nice company.

They stayed out a while longer, circling back around to go back to Jack’s home, but Jack paused this time before walking over to the back door.

He turned and saw the wolf looking at him with those round brown eyes, sitting obediently on the grass. Jack smiled and kneeled down, getting eye-level with him before kissing the wolf’s forehead and ruffling the fur of his neck.

“Stay safe out there, buddy.” Jack smiled and the wolf pressed the bridge of his nose under Jack’s chin affectionately.

...

Jack noticed that he was feeling a little sicker later, head thrumming and senses getting a little too intense for him once in a while. Mark seemed to be getting more on edge as well, hovering around Jack more when he was there and whining whenever Jack stumbled or showed any sign of discomfort.

One day the two of them were sitting on the floor of the living room watching another random movie when Jack groaned and grabbed his forehead as a wave of nausea hit him.

Mark whined and seemed to step in place before moving to cuddle up to Jack as if he was trying to soothe him.

“I’m fine…” Jack tried to reassure, half to himself.

He didn’t realize when he had fallen asleep, but he woke up to see that the wolf never left his side and was curled up next to him.

It was dinner time by then, so Jack got up and prepared a nice meal, cooking a little bit of meat for Mark and set it on a paper plate for him.

The wolf ate quickly and immediately walked over to stay by Jack’s side afterwards, looking upset still.

“Buddy, I’m fine, nothing a nice nap can’t fix.”

The wolf didn’t seem to be comforted by that.

...

Jack was sitting on the grass with Mark again, drawing yet another picture of the wolf, this time adding more detail in the background to act as the night sky with a moon in the background.

Usually Mark seemed to be entertained with the drawings whenever Jack would draw him, but he seemed distressed today.

“What’s wrong, Mark?” Jack frowned. “You’ve seemed off lately.”

The wolf whined and pressed up against Jack, resting his head on one of the brunet’s legs again.

“Are you worried about me?” Jack hummed.

The wolf pressed closer, almost as if he was trying to roll on him.

“I’m fine, doof, really, everyone gets sick once in a while.”

The subtle feeling in the back of his head was telling him that the wolf was worried.

He tried to reassure him with pets, but Mark didn’t move.

...

He woke up and walked down stairs like any other day, not really keeping track of what day it was exactly, but noticed right away that Mark was waiting by the door, looking nervous… if wolves could be nervous.

Can wolves be nervous?

Jack opened the door and watched as the wolf immediately walked inside, the only time Jack has seen him do something without Jack’s permission.

Well, it was an animal…

Jack didn’t mind too much, used to having the wolf in his house sometimes, but noticed that his attitude was different.

He ignored it for a bit, thinking it wasn’t much of a problem as long as Mark didn’t get destructive, but as the day continued, he only got more upset.

It was past dinner when Mark started whining, looking distressed and was hovering around Jack way more than usual.

“What? Is there something wrong with me?” Jack huffed. “Is there something wrong with this day? Is there something wrong with you?”

He decided to pull out his phone and check the date anyway, seeing nothing notable other than the tiny circle in the corner signaling a full moon tonight.

Mark nuzzled his legs as he was sitting on the couch and Jack pouted.

“What? I don’t know why you’re so upset?”

Jack was getting a little annoyed with the wolf and decided to let him out for the day, seeing it was close enough to night.

“C’mon, you’re going outside.” Jack huffed and walked over to the door, opening it and gesturing for Mark to leave.

For the first time ever, Mark didn’t listen to him and stayed put in the living room, laying down and whining.

“Outside.” Jack said again, waving his arm in a circular motion for Mark to leave once more.

The wolf didn’t move and Jack grunted, walking over to the pile of fluff and grabbing under his belly to try to pick him up and drag him over to the door.

“Oh, you’re heavy.” Jack grumbled as he stood over the wolf, trying to move him but he seemed to be purposely moving his weight back.

“Mark, I’m tired and you’re acting all upset today, I just want to go to sleep now.” He grumbled.

The wolf flopped down and rolled over. Jack would’ve laughed if he wasn’t getting upset with a growing headache.

“Mark, seriously, my head hurts and I’m just tired, please can’t you just move.”

He then started hearing a soft pitter patter outside and turned to see the start of rain falling.

Jack frowned and watched a bit longer as a light rain started getting heavier, thankful that his equipment was inside at the moment, then turned to look back at Mark.

Was he going to be the guy who kicks an animal outside even when it’s raining?

He didn’t want to be that guy.

Jack sighed and looked back at the black floof.

“Fine… you’re lucky it’s raining.” Jack grumbled and closed the door, locking it before turning back to the stairs and heading up to his bedroom.

He was surprised to see that the wolf had followed him and stopped at the bedroom door.

“Look, I’m trusting that you aren’t going to trash the place while I’m asleep, but I’m not letting you into my bedroom. Just be good and… please don’t pee anywhere.” Jack grumbled, rubbing his head from the growing headache and noticed his muscles were starting to hurt as well.

The wolf whined more when Jack walked into his bedroom and closed the door, keeping the wolf from getting in there.

Jack changed into pajamas and walked into the adjacent bathroom, looking at his face in the mirror and noticed he wasn’t looking too great. He guessed he was just tired and washed his face before walking back to the bedroom. He glanced over at the door, wondering if Mark was still there, and got down on his knees to peak under the door and saw that black fur pressed up against it.

Okay, so the wolf was laying down against his door.

Maybe wolves get lonely.

Jack tried not to think about it anymore and climbed into bed, wanting to go to sleep before the headache got worse.

 

He fell asleep for a little while but woke up not too much later. The room was dark, sun fallen completely behind the horizon, and Jack realized he was sweating and felt hot. He threw the covers off of him and tried to fall asleep again, frowning when it didn’t get any better and his headache got worse. He sat up on the bed and swung his feet over the edge, grunting when his muscles stung with the movement. He stumbled over to the bathroom, groaning when he turned the light on as it caused his headache to throb more with the harsh light and he quickly turned it back off. He looked at himself in the mirror, eyes adjusting quicker than normal in the darkness, and saw that he was sweating and looked sick. He felt a strange heat start to run through his veins uncomfortably, and he started shaking.

He heard whining coming from the door again, thinking that Mark probably realized he was awake as paws started scrapping against the door.

Jack looked through the drawers of his bathroom, looking for some type of painkiller or something until he felt bile in his stomach and quickly stumbled over to the toilet, expecting to throw up but nothing happened, only dry-heaving as he started shaking more.

The whining started getting louder, clawing at the door more, and Jack stumbled back to the bedroom, only to collapse to his knees on the floor as the pain in his muscles started throbbing, skin feeling as though it was on fire, and his bones felt like someone tried to run them over.

He felt tears sting the corners of his eyes as he hugged himself, things getting hazy as he felt his entire body tremble with pain.

He was caught off guard when another strange wave of nausea rose up from his stomach and he dry-heaved again, bending over uncomfortably as he spit on the floor and shook in pain.

Mark was pawing restlessly at the door now, though Jack’s mind was far from thinking about the wolf as he started freaking out about his health.

Was he dying?

Everything was aching, pain running through his entire body, and he finally started screaming when the pain became too much.

His body felt like someone was pulling him and squashing him at the same time, everything getting too hot and stung too much. He wanted it to stop, it was too much, it was too much pain and he couldn’t think straight anymore, vision going black.

He yelled again, finding no other outlet for the pain, and curled in on himself on the floor, sweat getting uncomfortable as it stuck to his clothes and hair.

There was stumbling coming from the hallway outside his door along with some type of grumble, Jack not able to pay attention to it, and the door clicked open. There was a rush of footsteps and Jack barely was able to notice that someone had moved him up from the floor.

“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, I’m sorry.” A voice said in his ear, sounding genuinely terrified and upset, as he felt himself get pulled closer to what felt like a naked chest.

Jack couldn’t get much out, only whines and yelps of pain as the heat got worse and his body started feeling less like his body. He couldn’t think straight let alone figure out what the heck was going on around him and what was holding him too… because he was pretty sure someone was holding him.

His instincts wanted him to grab onto something and cling onto it for dear life, and since he was being pressed up against… a person maybe… he wrapped his arms stiffly around it and dug his claws into the skin.

Claws?

He had claws now?

The maybe-person didn’t seem to be phased by claws and merely picked him up from the ground completely as the person stood up.

He felt the person direct his head somewhere, having his eyes squeezed shut so he didn’t really know, but he suddenly smelled something nice that seemed to invoke the feeling of comfort. Somehow it did seem to calm his nerves and made the pain ease, even if it was ever so slightly, and he tried to get closer to the strange scent that reminded him of the forest’s pine trees and dark chocolate.

Jack barely registered that they were moving when he heard a door click open and felt gentle raindrops hitting his skin in cool dots contrasting his heated skin. He barely realized the person who was carrying him was running when he felt the wind rush past him and ruffle his hair along the way.

He heard the rustle of leaves and guessed he was in the forest now, mind still only focused on the pain and couldn’t be concerned about _why_ he was in the forest anyway.

His sense of time was trash too, he had no idea how much time had actually passed until he felt something cold and gentle against his skin along with the sounds of splashing water.

The person was still holding him but sat down into the water with him, keeping his head above the surface while the cool pool relaxed his muscles and lessened the heat considerably.

Jack let out a sigh of relief from the soothing waves but he was still shaking and everything still hurt even if it wasn’t stinging as much.

He felt something ruffle his hair, pressing against his face like a hug, and felt water drop against his face that was warmer than the rain… almost like tears.

“I’m sorry…” The voice said again. “You… you have to relax and let the shift happen.”

What?

He felt his skin prickling and muscles pulling more, getting more miserable by the second.

“It’ll… the pain will stop when you shift.” The voice murmured sadly.

He then felt something tugging at his shirt and heard fabric ripping, feeling when his shirt was thrown to the side. The voice kept muttered apologies as his clothes was removed and he was set down in the pool by himself, though the person was still right next to him.

Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, he could practically hear his muscles stretching and bones snapping as he felt the worst pain of the night, pain so bad that his vision blurred to nothing and he passed out.

...

When he came to, the first thing Jack noticed was that the pain was completely gone and there was a gentle current of water flowing around his figure from the wind. He lifted his head and saw that he was laying in the shallow waters of a lake in the forest and immediately questioned how he got there.

Everything that happened before he passed out was blurry; he remembered being at home and he shut his eyes and didn’t open them until now so… what exactly happened?

He stood up on wobbly legs, feeling a lot different than normal, and realized he was a lot closer to the ground than what he was used to. He looked down to see himself but instead saw two furry paws.

Before he had the chance to get a better look at himself, he saw movement from the corner of his eyes and looked up to see a wolf with glowing silver eyes, just like the ones he saw at the night with the cliff.

Something inside of him suddenly snapped, Jack having no control over it, as he started growling loudly at the wolf and getting into an offensive stance with teeth bare and snarling.

The wolf looked at him coolly before barking loudly at him with a ferocious growl afterwards, noise echoing in his body and suddenly scaring him.

Jack felt his body automatically curl in on itself, something deep down telling him that this wolf was _not_ to be messed with, and backed out of the water to try to get away from the wolf and bumped into a tree, falling over on unsteady legs and Jack started losing his mind from terror.

He was a _wolf_?! What the hell?!

He then heard a whine as the wolf in front quickly padded over to him and laid down next to him, pressing the bridge of his nose against Jack’s brown fur, a drastic difference than how the creature was acting before.

Jack turned his head to look at the wolf and saw his eyes had changed to those familiar brown orbs that Jack had seen many times before.

This wolf was Mark.

Then his mind started going through explanations as to what this could mean until he landed on a single idea that he deemed to be the most logical one.

He had fallen asleep with Mark laying against the door to his bedroom and all of this was a dream; his mind was going through weird thoughts since this was the first night that the wolf was staying inside of his house and he was dreaming this up.

Okay, this was making so much more sense now. Besides, his mind has had previous issues with this vivid imagination stuff before with the scene that happened at the cliff with the bite. Obviously this wasn’t real, he was just having a weird dream about being a wolf with Mark.

Mark moved when Jack started to get up again, not used to walking on four legs and still trying to learn how a wolf body works.

Mark seemed upset and hesitant, but Jack simply looked at him and tilted his head in curiosity. He was a dream wolf now, so what exactly did wolves do anyway?

Jack walked around a bit, finding the wolf’s stride to be a lot more entertaining than a human walk, and stepped around in the water for a bit to watch it splash around his paws. Mark appeared to have calmed down and looked amused to see Jack playing around in the water like that.

Jack saw more movement from the corner of his eye again and looked up to see a blur of some type of animal run by in the distance, quickly disappearing behind the trees. Jack perked his ears up and whined with some type of want and confusion, shuffling in place. His mind was telling him to go on a run to see how fast he was.

Mark walked over in front of him and over to a path through the trees, looking back and yipping happily, encouraging Jack to follow.

Jack’s inner wolf became excited and his tail started swooshing quickly, making Mark brighten up as well as he started trotting ahead. Jack began to follow, matching the black wolf’s pace until the two of them slowly sped up to a sprint.

Jack never felt so free before, feeling the wind glide past his face with the rush of adrenaline and the thud of his paws hitting the dirt below him as his muscles moved with grace. When he turned his head, he could see the blur of Mark running alongside him, making the moment that much greater.

The subtle feelings he’s had before started getting stronger, becoming more prominent as it told him that Mark was overjoyed to be running with him like this.

The two of them ran for a long time, not getting tired easily, and Jack felt like they must have gone through the entire forest before they came to a stop. Mark seemed like he was glowing with happiness, bouncing around Jack and would be smiling if he could.

They found the lake again and started splashing around in it together. Jack tumbled into the black wolf to knock him over, drenching him completely as he got up to tackle Jack back. After that, they took a more relaxing stroll as Mark stayed right up against Jack, occasionally nuzzling him and making happy little hums.

When they approached what seemed like a dead end, Mark kept walking and pushed past a wall of brush to disappear behind it. Jack followed hesitantly and found that the two of them entered a closed off little clearing, kind of like a little house built from nature, with little holes in the leaves above to stream in light from the moon. Jack looked around to see a nice but old looking blanket and pillow in a corner along with a pile of human clothes. There were a few other scattered human objects here and there, but other than that, the place was empty.

The grass below his feet was cool and soft, a welcoming feeling under his paws, and Mark started walking around in quick little circles reminding Jack of a dog who wanted attention.

Jack strolled over to Mark and nuzzled his cheek, earning a delighted yip as Mark nuzzled him back until the two of them started a wolf snuggling session. Jack could smell that piney dark chocolate scent and rubbed against it; some part of him was thrilled to be this close to the black wolf and wanted to keep the scent on him forever. They tumbled around on the floor for a bit before they calmed down and pressed up against each other to form one giant floof of fur on the grass.

Everything seemed to be at peace and the feeling in Jack’s mind was buzzing with happiness.

Jack was happy, he really was; this dream was beautiful as much as it was breathtaking, but it was time for him to wake up now.

He wanted to return to his life as a human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? Curious to find out what happens next? Comment below because I really do love all of your comments and would love to know what your thoughts are on it!
> 
> This is my first wolf au so I'm curious to see what people think of it so far.


	2. Not a Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a dream, Jack, not a dream.

Jack grumbled softly as he opened his eyes and looked around. He was laying on the grass and his muscles felt sore. He went to sit up properly but felt something holding him down as he looked at his stomach and saw an arm wrapped around him.

As soon as he realized there was a stranger with him, Jack threw the arm off of him and scrambled away. The stranger was woken up by that and brought a hand up to rub at his own eyes before sitting up himself.

“Mm… good mornin’.” The man said softly, sleep laced in his voice.

“Oh my god you’re naked!” Jack yelped, then looked down at himself. “Oh my god I’m naked!”

The stranger chuckled and brought his hands down to the grass again.

“That’s what happens when you shift.” The stranger smiled.

“Yo- what?!”

“Shifting. It’s the word used for changing between a human and a wolf.”

“Wa-wa-wa-wait. What the hell are you talking about?! And who the hell are you?! And where the hell am I?!” Jack asked frantically.

The stranger frowned and titled his head to the side.

“You… I thought you understood what happened…”

“What happened? What _did_ happen? I thought this was all a dream!” Jack threw his hands up.

“But you reacted to your first night… like you knew what was going on… you weren’t…”

“Why the hell are we naked in the forest?!” Jack ran his fingers through his hair and grabbed onto the sides of his head.

The stranger frowned more and started crawling over to Jack who only squeaked and backed away more.

“S-stay the hell away from me!”

The stranger stopped and leaned back on his heels.

“You don’t… Jack…”

“How do you know my name?!” Jack started shaking.

“I… it’s me, Mark.” The man said, looking concerned.

“You’re not Mark, Mark’s a wolf!” Jack spat.

The man whined sadly and the feeling in Jack’s head returned, way more clearly and louder than before.

_Mark is sad. Need to comfort him._

Jack was getting so confused, the events of last night cluttered together in his mind, and the thought of this stranger being _Mark_ was insane. His adorable wolf who he has grown to love could not be this naked stranger.

Who was… tanned and muscular and had gorgeous black hair that made a natural wave over to the side of his head and had those same beautiful brown eyes…

No, this was a _stranger_ , this was not Mark, Mark was at home waiting by the door for him.

“I-I can’t do this, this isn’t real, this can’t be real…” Jack huffed.

“It’s true… you told me about your projects, showed me your pictures… you told me about how you liked living alone because it brought you closer to nature and you liked seeing the wildlife… and last night you let me stay inside because it was raining…”

“You… you really are… oh my god…” Jack started shaking more.

“Jack, I’m not going to hurt you, please calm down…”

“You’re a… a human and you _lied_ to me.” Jack started getting angry now.

“I didn’t lie, I never-“

“No! I thought you were just a normal animal that couldn’t understand anything I was saying and you lied about it by pretending to be one!”

“Jack, I was-“

“No! Just stop, stop it!” Jack frantically looked around the room until he found the exit and scrambled over to it and pushed past the brush.

He was lost, squinting his eyes from the brightness of the sun’s morning light, and looked around at the trees around him. He took a few steps forward and felt as tears started falling from the corners of his eyes.

“Jack.” Mark called out, following him from the exit of the den.

“No, how many times do I have to tell you that.” Jack turned around to face him, more tears falling.

“Jack, please, I’ll explain everything just-“

“No, Mark, just no! You lied, I can’t… just stay away from me!”

Mark’s face crumpled at that.

“Jack, please, don’t do this.”

“Stay away from me! And don’t come back to my house, just leave me alone!”

“Jack.” Mark looked like he was going to cry himself.

“I’m done.” Jack turned and immediately ran back into the forest to try to find his way home.

He was half expecting Mark to follow him and would look behind only to be greeted with nothing but the usual trees.

It took him longer than he wanted, but he eventually found his way home and rushed inside, locking the door and sitting on the couch of his living room.

This can’t be happening, it can’t be real. If everything that happened last night was real, then he was a freaking werewolf! And Mark, his beloved wolf, was a werewolf too who understood all of the personal things he talked about.

Jack started crying again as he curled in on himself and laid down on the couch, clutching a pillow as he tried to sort out his thoughts, eventually falling asleep.

…

When he woke up, the house was dark and quiet, too quiet for Jack. He was a little stiff from his sleeping position, but his mind had cleared up and he wasn’t freaking out like he was earlier. Now that he was levelheaded, he sat up and took the time to think, really think.

He was… a werewolf now. And Mark was a werewolf.

That would explain Jack’s recent changes in his senses, and yesterday was the full moon, so that would explain the shift.

That night at the cliff when he got bit… that was Mark…

Oh god, Mark bit him and turned him into a werewolf.

Jack pushed his face into the pillow and groaned, not knowing what he was supposed to do. What was a person supposed to do when they found out they were a werewolf?

_Mark is really sad._

And why did his mind keep giving him weird prompts like that?

Jack sighed and moved away from the pillow, looking at the black t.v. and staring blankly. He was a werewolf… as ridiculous as it sounded… he was a werewolf… That was a fact and there was nothing he could do about, so it would be better to just skip the sentimental parts of it and get straight to understanding what it means exactly to be a werewolf.

Except… where was he supposed to start?

His mind first went to Mark; he obviously knew about werewolves and seemed like he would be willing to teach him about it, but Mark lied to him about it. Yeah, he didn’t literally go up to him and say ‘I’m a normal wolf who can’t turn into a human’, but he was practically spying on Jack and intruded on his personal life.

He kind of felt betrayed.

After spending a few more minutes thinking on the couch, he walked up to his bedroom where his desk and computer was to open up google after remembering that he was still naked and put on pajamas. He searched details about werewolves, but everything that came up was stuff Jack already knew based on those stereotypical movies and books. For all he knew, those weren’t even accurate. So basically, it didn’t help him at all.

He groaned and rubbed his face, feeling tired even though he just woke up, but decided to go prepare a meal because he hasn’t eaten in a while either. He walked downstairs to the kitchen and opened the fridge, seeing the stash of bacon and other food he bought specifically for Mark and he felt a small ache in his chest.

_Mark misses you. You miss him._

No, Mark can’t just show up in his life like that and make him a werewolf and just expect Jack to be okay with it!

He closed the fridge and decided to just make toast and put some butter on it or something; he wasn’t really feeling hungry anyway. He was so out of it that when the toaster pinged after it was done, Jack didn’t even flinch. He grabbed the toast and grabbed a butter knife to add a touch of butter before putting it on a paper plate and bringing it up to his room. He ate in silence on his bed, crunching on the crispy toast and sighing after he was done.

He just woke up, but it was dark out and he really wasn’t feeling like doing anything.

He laid down in bed and closed his eyes, resting for a long time before his mind finally shut off to go to sleep.

When he woke up, it was bright outside and his stomach grumbled with hunger. He reluctantly got up and shuffled over to the bathroom for his morning routine before going downstairs to prepare breakfast.

He was lonely, the ache in his chest growing when he looked out the window and saw that Mark wasn’t there.

He didn’t want to see Mark, that’s what he kept telling himself, but he missed his company. It felt like he was talking to another person when he talked to the wolf because he was a person; he understood what Jack was saying and tried to respond in his own wordless way.

Jack sighed and tried to think of happier thoughts, deciding to draw to take his mind off things as he brought his plate of breakfast into his art room where his supplies were stored during the nights and when it rained.

It only made him sadder when he saw the various sketches of the wolf around the room. He’d drawn Mark a lot…

He felt a tear slide down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away with his hand.

This wasn’t the time for crying; he was the one who told Mark to leave him alone.

This is what he wanted.

But it didn’t help when his mind kept telling him how they both missed each other.

Jack took out his phone and put on a playlist again while he grabbed a blank canvas and set it up to paint on. He put his food on a stool next to him as he started painting, taking bites once in a while as he wordlessly colored the canvas. He wasn’t really focusing on anything while he was painting, just drawing whatever random thoughts came to mind, but when he scooted back to look at the finished picture, he realized he drew the forest with a wolf in it again.

Jack rubbed his temple and put away his supplies before grabbing his now empty plate and turning off the music.

Maybe he just needed a change of scenery to clear his mind?

There was still plenty of time to go to town so Jack put on his coat and prepared to leave, locking the front door and walking out to his truck to drive to town for groceries. When he got there, he bought a lot of ice cream and other various comfort foods. When he returned home, he sat on the floor where he usually sat with Mark and opened a bucket of ice cream to eat straight from the container as he watched a comedy to try to cheer himself up. He sincerely hoped that the feeling would go away with sleep, but it seemed the longer he ignored those weird prompts in his mind and the longer he ignored Mark, the worse it got. 

He started feeling sick again, for a different reason this time, but unpleasant none the less. He caught himself always looking out the window, expecting a black wolf to appear out of the line of trees, but he never came.

He tried painting more and hoped his mind would at least be distracted when he went to the market to sell his work, but people would always comment on his wolf drawings and those were the ones that were the most popular and sold quickly.

The ache in his stomach wasn’t getting better at all.

He tried a lot of things to try to make himself feel better. He tried watching all types of movies, tried playing music loudly, tried going to town again to talk to some of the people, tried different styles of food… but his mind kept telling him that he needed to be with Mark.

_Mark is heartbroken._

Jack could say the same thing about himself; about this whole situation, all because he decided to go sit on the edge of a cliff.

He found himself starting to randomly cry, not a real cry, but silent tears would appear and fall without warning.

Jack wanted the feeling to go away, and he knew how to make it do that, but he didn’t want to admit to Mark that he was wrong about wanting him to stay away.

He wanted to puke at his own words now; he’s never regretted anything so much in his life, but he still had that stubborn part of him that didn’t want to give in.

He kept telling himself he hated Mark for what he had done, but he knew deep down that those thoughts were false.

…

It was about a week later, Jack was having trouble doing basic things since he couldn’t focus anymore, catching himself whining at the windows, and he was getting tired of it all.

So far, being a werewolf sucked.

He sluggishly walked up to his room and flopped down on his bed, closing his eyes and praying for things to get better.

 

He dreamed that he was sitting out in the forest with Mark, sitting side by side, and Jack could pick up on the relaxing pine chocolate, wanting to get closer to it since it no longer lingered in his own home. Mark had an arm around him and rested his head on the top of Jack’s hair.

“I didn’t mean to do this.” Mark said in the dream sadly. “I saw you falling and I didn’t have time to shift into a human, so I grabbed onto you the only way I could.”

“I know…” Jack responded, knowing that was the reason even if his mind didn’t want to admit it was true.

“I know it’s unforgivable what I did…” Mark continued. “But… I miss you, I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too.” Jack replied.

“Please… I promise I won’t do anything to upset you… please let me see you again.” The dream Mark sniffled.

Jack felt himself start to cry once more as he hugged Mark and let the tears fall.

“I’m sorry.” Jack whimpered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I miss you, everything keeps telling me to find you again.”

He suddenly heard some type of loud bang and everything stilled. He leaned back and realized Mark was bleeding from a huge wound in his stomach and he wasn’t moving anymore.

“It seems you were too late.” The raven haired man said before collapsing onto the ground of bloody grass.

“Wha… what… Mark?” Jack gasped, taking a second for his mind to catch up to fully understand what happened.

Mark was… dead.

 

Jack woke up screaming, going into a blind panic as the more wolfy instincts started taking over.

Where was Mark? He needed to find Mark! He can’t be dead, it just can’t be true!

He felt tears streaming down his face as he trembled alone on the bed and whipped his head around the room looking for the other man.

Where was his scent? His scent wasn’t anywhere in his house; his scent wasn’t anywhere!

Jack needed to be comforted but there was nothing in the house that could do so, there were none of Mark’s belongings, nothing that had his scent, no way to contact him, no way of finding out where he was.

Jack just screamed, turning from inarticulate yelling to yelling Mark’s name as he stumbled over to the door, almost tripping over his own feet, and left his bedroom. When he got to the stairs, he felt his body wanting to shut down and cry on the floor, but he pushed himself to go towards the backdoor to at least get outside. He didn’t give very far, though, as he took uneven steps on shaking legs and tumbled down the stairs on his butt.

The ache in his stomach turned to vile and it took more effort just to keep himself from dry-heaving since he knew nothing would come up.

_Mark is greatly distressed!_

Greatly distressed? Jack was the one who was greatly distressed here!

Wait, did Mark get these weird mind prompts too? Could Mark tell what was happening right now?

Jack sat on the stairs for a while, fighting with his mind to get ahold of itself, then he heard a loud knocking on the door.

“Jack?! Jack, what’s going on?!”

That was Mark’s voice! Jack quickly got up, bracing himself on the railing before stumbling over to the back door. He probably looked awful right now, but he just wanted to see Mark again. He unlocked the door and barely had a second to open it before Mark burst inside and tackled Jack in a hug, knocking them both onto the floor.

Jack looked at his face and saw that Mark looked tired and was crying.

“Jack, are you hurt?!” The man asked and Jack saw a flash of silver in his eyes.

Jack was crying too much to answer.

“Please, are you hurt?!”

Jack shook his head “no” and tried swallowing to clear his throat enough to speak.

“You were dead.” Is all he managed to get out before bursting into tears again.

He saw Mark’s face pale in horror and realization before bringing Jack’s head towards his neck.

“Oh god, no, I’m not dead, I’m right here, scent me and it’ll calm you down.” Mark muttered through his own tears as he held onto Jack in a tight hug.

Jack found the familiar scent of piney dark chocolate again and whined as he clung to Mark, too many emotions going on at once.

Not long afterwards, Mark picked him up and brought him back to his bedroom, setting him down carefully on the bed and moving away. Jack started to lose it again and reached out to Mark to try to grab onto him.

“I’m not leaving, I’m not leaving you.” Mark reassured quickly as he opened a drawer and grabbed a pair of sweats, putting them on so he wasn’t naked anymore.

The raven-haired man quickly walked over to the other side of the bed and laid down, having Jack immediately cling to his side.

“You need sleep.” Mark mumbled as he held onto Jack with one hand stroking his hair.

It was still night outside and Jack looked absolutely miserable.

“I’m not going to leave you, so you can fall asleep.” Mark added.

Jack nuzzled into the comforting scent and let it calm his nerves. His mind finally stopped its annoying prompts and relaxed knowing that Mark was with him now. He was then able to fall asleep peacefully, a night of rest he desperately needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love your comments, even the one with only two words XD  
> And I didn't think this story would get so many views/kudos in like three days so wow, guys, thank you so much! It really means a lot.
> 
> On a side note, though, I have a feeling you guys didn't understand me when I said "different than normal" in the notes earlier and "kind of" in the tags, but I still think it's really cute, just not what you are all used to I suppose.  
> However, I am currently working on _another_ story that is exactly what you guys would expect of an a/b/o story and it has Alpha Jack with Omega Mark because there are like barely any of those so I might as well add to the party. The first chapter is written , but I don't know if I want to post it yet because I have a lot of stories going on (but I probably will because I have no self control).
> 
> I love your comments, and feel free to hassle me about my other story to get me to post it XD Honestly, I love you guys, you're all wonderful people <3


	3. Deal

Jack woke up, eyes still closed, and was surrounded by warmth and that lovely scent. Mind still lost in sleep, Jack nosed up against the scent, humming happily, and wondered what it would taste like if it smelled this good. He dabbed at the skin with his tongue a bit before smiling and biting it softly, tongue lapping at the skin that was there.

“Mnn, Jack… what are you…”

Jack ignored the voice and nibbled along the skin, whining when he felt something trying to push him away.

“Jack, this isn’t really a good time for…”

The voice trailed off when Jack bit down a little harder on the skin.

“You’re really not helping me here…” The voice mumbled.

Jack brought his hand up and started lazily rubbing another patch of skin, feeling like a shoulder, as he continued licking along what felt like a neck.

“Aw… you’re being mean…” The voice groaned.

Jack really liked the taste of whatever this was.

Then he felt something cup the side of his face and move him away slightly only to replace the neck he was nibbling on with a pair of lips as he felt another tongue slide between his.

Jack liked the taste of this more.

He kissed back, moaning softly at the feeling, and the hand on his face moved back to his hair and gripped onto him more firmly.

Jack started waking up fully, though, and opened his eyes to realize that he was kissing Mark.

He gasped and shoved himself away from the other man, almost falling off of the side of the bed as he sat up frantically.

“W-what the hell?!” Jack frowned.

Mark sighed, seeming to guess that this is what would happen, and sat up himself.

“Why did I wake up to you kissing me?!”

“You started it.” Mark hummed and tilted his head to show the newly forming marks on his neck, a hickey being the most notable.

Jack groaned and covered his face with his hands.

“What the hell is going on with my life...” Jack grumbled to himself.

“Jack, I can explain…”

Jack moved his hands down and glared at the other man.

“Just let me talk, please, just let me say this without you leaving again.”

“Fine.” Jack huffed, wanting answers since he couldn’t find them on his own.

“I’m sure you already figured this part out, but you and I are both werewolves.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Jack grumbled.

“That night in the forest, I watched you sit on the cliff as it crumbled under you and I wouldn’t have had enough time to shift into a human so I only had one other way to grab you.”

Jack frowned, realizing this sounded an awful lot like his nightmare.

“I didn’t mean to do this to you, I never wanted to turn you, but when I saw you falling…” Tears started falling from Mark’s eyes. “I know what I did was terrible… but what… what’s done is done, I’m so sorry but there’s nothing I can do to change you back.”

Jack leaned over to rest his head against the bed frame and hugged himself sadly.

“I figured as much…” Jack murmured.

“I was born a wolf, I’ve lived my whole life like this, I can help you get accustomed to this life and answer whatever questions you have, but you can’t run away like that again.” Mark looked half sad half terrified. “We can’t be apart like that again, you saw what happened, it’s only going to hurt the two of us.”

Jack let out a heavy sigh and looked at the space on the bed between them.

“I’ll answer any questions you have, right now, whatever you want.” Mark urged.

Jack had a lot of time to think of questions and looked up at Mark sadly.

“Am I going to get sick like before every month?”

“No, the first month leading to your first full moon is the worst, then after your first shift, your body gets accustomed to the new change and won’t have problems that’ll make you sick. The first month has to deal with your body trying to adjust to its new lifestyle and abilities.”

“Am I going to… shift every full moon?”

“Once you learn to control the wolf part of you, then no.”

“The hell do I do that?”

“I’ll teach you.” Mark said rather quickly, looking a bit desperate.

“Are there… like, issues that I’m going to have now that I’m a werewolf?”

“Issues?” Mark tilted his head.

“Like that silver bullet crap?”

“Oh, those myths are just myths, I mean, if you got shot with a silver bullet it won’t be great... getting shot by anything isn’t great, doesn’t have to be silver to hurt. But if it is silver, it doesn’t make it any worse than if it was a normal bullet. Most of those myths are like that. We’re part human part wolf, we aren’t magic.”

“Okay… are wolves allergic to anything… do I have to be careful with groceries now?”

“You can eat whatever you want, you’re still a human. Though, I guess wolfsbane is something to watch out for I guess. I mean, it’s poisonous to humans whether they’re a wolf or not, but even I’ve never really seen it around. It’s confusing, though, because depending on what you do with it, wolfsbane can either hurt us or heal us. It would be better just to stay away from it.”

“Are there others? Other werewolves?”

“In the world, yeah, but I haven’t seen any around here. You’ve probably noticed that your sense of smell has improved drastically.”

“Yeah.” Jack huffed. “Threw out half of the stuff in my fridge.”

“Well, you’d be able to smell another wolf’s scent if they were in the area; it’d be rather obvious.”

Jack let out another sigh and looked over at the door.

“Can you… can you leave?”

“Jack, you can’t-“ Mark’s fear was obvious on his face but Jack cut him off.

“No, just to the living room, I just want some time to think by myself.”

“Oh…” Mark nodded sadly and got out of bed, quietly padding over to the door and leaving the room.

Jack sat alone on his bed and tapped his fingers on his leg, wondering what to do. Mark was here now, that was good in a way, but Jack needed to come to a set conclusion about how he was going to go about this. If Mark was going to stay, then he had to get everything through his mind and not freak out about him being around anymore. Mark would be able to help him control his wolf and learn how to navigate around in his new life.

_Mark is sad._

Shit, he forgot to ask about the weird mind prompts. Those didn’t seem to make any sense. Why did they only do it with Mark? And what would that mean?

Jack then felt his stomach growl with hunger and he realized he hasn’t eaten very well this past week.

Okay, he needed to come to a conclusion quickly so he could leave and go downstairs to the kitchen. Mark seemed like an honestly nice guy, Jack’s entire wolf being was mad at him for being the one causing Mark to be sad all the time now, and part of his human side still missed his wolf and liked the company of another person as well. Jack tried to pro and con the situation and found more positive things than negative that could come out of this. The worst thing that could happen would be for Mark to kill him, but not only did it seem like the complete opposite thing for Mark to do, but if he really did want to kill Jack, he would’ve already done it by now with all the times he’s been right next to Jack who was vulnerable or sleeping.

And right now, Jack really just wanted a hug.

Jack made up his mind and got out of bed to go downstairs to the kitchen, seeing Mark sitting on the couch looking down at his hands and look up when he noticed Jack. The brunet opened the fridge and looked around for food, grabbing a wrapped package of bacon and taking it out.

“… You like bacon?” He asked softly.

Mark got up and walked over to the kitchen, keeping his distance from Jack, and smiled.

“Of course I do, everyone likes bacon.” He said just as soft.

They worked in silence together to cook the bacon and sat down on the couch afterwards to watch t.v. as they ate. Jack noticed that Mark kept glancing at him and finally asked him what was wrong.

“The next full moon is on its way and we already passed a week; I think it would be best for you to start training a little to see if you can control your wolf before its here.” Mark explained.

“How would I do that?”

“The best way to control your wolf is to learn how to control the shift so you can do it on command.”

Jack pursed his lips.

“You can try the basics while we watch some show…” Mark hummed.

“What would that be?”

Mark held his hands out between the two of them and flipped his hands to show Jack his nails, extending them as they turned into sharp claws.

“There’s also this.” Mark bared his teeth a little to show pointed fangs.

“And then this.” He widened his eyes a little for emphasis as his eyes glowed silver.

“The nails would be easier to start with since you can actually see them. The eye thing is a little harder because it has more to do with tuning into your wolf instincts and seeing through the wolf’s eyes. But those are the basics.”

Mark turned to look back at the t.v., probably giving Jack some sense of privacy so he wasn’t just staring at him. Jack watched the show for a little bit before looking down at his hands and fiddled with his fingers for a bit.

Jack didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing to get his claws to come out, but he guessed it was similar to how his mind got his body to do anything else, like bending the finger for example. He took even breaths as he stared at his hands, deciding to focus on only one hand after a bit, and frowned each time he moved his hand like a girl would to look at her nail polish.

Sounds from the television changed his attention as he started watching the scene on the screen, seeing that it was an intense moment where one of the characters was looking for someone else in an abandoned building.

The scene was dark and the character was having trouble seeing just as much as Jack was and everything was eerily quiet.

Then a gunshot rang out and caused a metal contraption to crash in front of the character. Jack was surprised from that and jumped a little, but yelped when there was a sharp pain on his upper arm. He looked down and saw that where his arms were crossed, his right hand had its claws out and jabbed at his skin, blood escaping from the little wounds.

“Ow, shit. That wasn’t what I had in mind for this.” Jack grumbled as he moved his hand away to see the blood on his arm.

Mark started chuckling from the other side of the couch.

“Don’t worry, we heal a lot faster than normal humans, but you got your claws out!” Mark smiled.

“The painful way.” Jack huffed, but smiled back when he saw the look on Mark’s face.

He then felt his mind telling him that Mark was proud.

Oh yeah, that was still a thing.

“What are those mind things I keep feeling? They never showed up until after I was turned…”

Mark frowned and looked away from Jack at that.

“It’s… uh… maybe not the time for that…”

“Not the time for that? But what about when you said you would answer any question I had?”

“This question is… complicated.”

“How is it complicated? That doesn’t make any sense.” Jack huffed.

“I just think you should get used to everything else first before I talk about that…” Mark seemed to be getting uncomfortable.

“I think I deserve a real answer; I’ve been getting these weird prompts all the time and I don’t even know what they mean half of the time and they’re all about you! What the hell does that even mean?!”

Mark frowned and kept shuffling his hands together.

“It’s… really not something I think you’re ready to hear…”

“I wasn’t ready to become a werewolf, but here I am, and I think I’ve dealt with it a lot better than some other people who might’ve gone insane or worse… I’ve already accepted this as my fate, so just get on with it.”

Mark sighed and leaned back against the couch all the way, still not looking at Jack directly, but gave in and started explaining.

“Wolves have a… thing about bonding and… relationships that are different than humans. Wolves are meant to protect their partners, to keep them safe and happy… but they don’t get to choose who their partner is. They have one true mate, and when they find them, they will get those prompts and feelings to help direct them to care for their partner.” Mark said softly.

Jack was silent and didn’t move, finally getting Mark to look up at him.

“Jack…?”

Jack was feeling a lot of things at that moment.

Anger… fear… shock… confusion…

But through all of it, one emotion held more strength than the others…

And he started sobbing.

“No, please don’t cry.” Mark whined and scooted over to Jack to wrap the brunet in his arms.

Jack wasn’t even sure himself as to why he was crying. He was mad that some unknown force chose who his partner was going to be in his life, he was terrified of being in a relationship like this, but he was also… happy… to know he wasn’t going to be alone anymore… and that someone as kind and beautiful as Mark was his…

His mind really didn’t want to cooperate; it was making his life difficult.

“I’m sorry, I never meant for you to have to go through any of this.” Mark muttered, crying again.

The two of them were both having a crying issue lately.

Jack sobbed into Mark’s arms until his mind cleared enough for him to think properly again and he lightly pushed Mark’s shoulders to get him to let go.

Jack sniffled and wiped his face a bit.

“Geez, I’ve just been a ball of sappy these days.” Jack murmured.

“It’s not your fault… but that’s why we can’t be apart, our wolf sides need to be able to be near each other.”

Jack groaned and rubbed his face again.

“This is… a lot to take in.” He finally puffed out.

“That’s why I wanted to tell you later.”

“I think it’s better to just deal with it now; if this is what my life has become, then I need to suck it up.”

It probably wasn’t the best way to word it, but it seemed that Mark understood what he was trying to say.

“Take all the time you need.” Mark tried to reassure.

Mark gave him his space while they carried on through the day. For a while, Jack stood in the bathroom to look at the mirror as he tried to get his fangs to appear or see if his eyes changed. He was able to get the fangs, but wasn’t too discouraged when his eyes stayed the same since Mark said they were more difficult to do.

Mark prepared a nice dinner for the two of them, surprising Jack with it, and they ate in silence.

When night fell, Jack laid alone on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He thought that Mark would try to convince him to sleep together and was surprised yet again when the raven-haired man never appeared.

He was lonely, though, and the bed felt uncomfortably cold. Jack rolled over on the bed and laid on the pillow that Mark had used last night, picking up on the lingering scent of the other.

Before he could really think through anything, his body got out of bed and walked over to the door, opening it and leaning against the doorframe. He looked down the stairs and could see the fluff of dark hair peeking out from the end of the couch. He felt awful when he realized Mark had planned to sleep on the couch without question and watched as the other picked his head up and looked over the couch at him.

The look Jack was giving him must have been enough for Mark to understand as he got off the couch and started walking over to the stairs.

The two of them went back to the bedroom together and laid down on the bed, neither of them saying a word as Jack rested his head on Mark’s chest and Mark wrapped an arm around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your kudos and comments are really motivational ^^  
> Feel free to comment about anything, I'd love to hear what you guys think, this story seems like it's going to be another fun one to do!


	4. By Fate

The first few days of living together were awkward, both of them hesitant around the other. Mark eventually started making all of their meals, which Jack didn’t mind too much and took the extra free time to do other chores around the house or continue with his paintings. He would also try to practice changing his nails and teeth when he was taking a break.

He found that Mark seemed to only wear different pairs of Jack’s sweatpants and he wasn’t sure if Mark didn’t like clothes or didn’t want to bother Jack by wearing anything else or what, but Jack strangely liked the idea of Mark wearing his clothes.

He also learned that his wolf instincts were going to be hard to manage before he learned how to control them. Mark found it all amusing, even though Jack glared at him every time something happened, because they were all funny situations. Jack growled at the door a few times when he thought someone was there as well as the windows when an animal could be seen. They avoided watching any movies with wolves in it when Jack almost attacked the t.v. thinking another wolf was in his house.

Jack would sometimes have problems with his senses when they got a little too intense, still not entirely able to control them.

There was a time when one of the speakers hooked up to the t.v. had a loose cable and caused a high-pitched ring that made Jack cover his ears and yell at Mark to make it stop. 

He tried lighting a scented candle once, which he used to like to do before, but it didn’t take long for the scent to get overwhelming and he ended up throwing the candle outside (after it was put out) and opened all the windows to air out the house as he moved to paint outside himself.

Sometimes the lights would be too bright for him and he started relying on sunlight only for light instead of turning on artificial ones.

The first weekend since Mark “moved in”, Jack went to the market by himself to sell his art but had to leave early that day when two people started arguing within range. Jack could feel himself getting agitated and quickly packed up when he saw his claws poke out, not even caring to buckle up properly as he sped home.

The second weekend Mark offered to go with him, though Jack said it might be weird since no one knew who he was and might get suspicious to suddenly see him with Jack, but they went together anyway, being sure to make Mark wear proper clothing when he went out into public. That week, there wasn’t any fighting, but there was a group of little kids who ran off without their parents and started causing a ruckus. They almost knocked over a few other stands and bumped into a few people who were visiting the market. They got closer to Jack’s set up and he started getting irritated.

Mark then moved carefully to stand in front of Jack without looking strange as he gently rubbed his upper arm.

“Hey, they’re just kids.” He said softly with a smile.

“Ugh, I know, I don’t mean to be this frustrated.” Jack grumbled.

Mark moved to brush a strand of hair from Jack’s face and subtly placed his wrist in front of Jack’s nose so he could pick up on the scent there and calm him down.

Mark moved away just as subtly, standing next to some of the pictures and directing his attention to the drawings.

Jack looked over at him, silently thanking him before looking back at a new customer who was looking at his work.

 

…

 

It was less than a week before the next full moon and Jack had gotten the hang of getting his claws and fangs out as well as controlling some of his senses better, but he still hasn’t shifted to a wolf since the last moon.

Mark said that shifting would help with control by getting used to being in his wolf form and even if he didn’t have full control by the full moon, he would still be able to shift ahead of the moon that day so he wouldn’t have to go through the painful process of a forced shift.

Jack said it was hard enough to get his claws and fangs so shifting would take a lot longer to figure out how to do.

“Since we’re… um… mates…” Mark still seemed embarrassed by pointing that out. “I could try to trigger it for you.”

Jack was hesitant at first but agreed to it since he feared the full moon more. The two of them ended up sitting on the living room floor after Jack took off his clothes, though Mark kept his sweatpants on.

“Okay, clear your mind and just focus on your wolf instincts.” Mark instructed as he sat in front of Jack and cupped his cheeks, getting eyelevel with the brunet.

Jack stared back and looked into Mark’s eyes as he saw them glow silver and stay that way, feeling something inside of him stir as he felt himself get lost in those lovely silver orbs. Everything else seemed to wash away, easing into nothingness and quietness. There weren’t any words, but he could feel something like an order for him to shift, telling him to change to a wolf so he can join Mark as those silver eyes were part of Mark’s wolf self.

Jack then felt his own eyes do something, feeling a little odd as his eyes seemed to brighten, but he noticed that Mark smiled afterwards.

“There you go, just like that.” Mark said in a strange and soothing tone.

At that, Jack felt himself easily change to the wolf’s mind as a familiar prickle crawled through his body, nothing like how it was during the full moon, and felt as his body started to shift.

He didn’t even realize how fast it happened until he blinked his eyes when Mark moved away and looked down at his own paws again.

“You have lovely green eyes.” Mark smiled before standing up and walking over to the back door to open it.

Oh, so Mark could have his eyes glow silver and Jack’s could be green.

Jack stood up and stretched a little bit, muscles and bones sore from shifting, then walked over to the door and went outside. He turned around after walking to the grass to see Mark close the door as he walked outside, no pants, and shifted himself.

The two of them padded over to the forest and Jack was reminded of the night of the full moon when the two of them raced around and had a wonderful time together. Jack could tell that nothing like that would happen this time; he knew that Mark was too nervous to try anything and Jack wasn’t comfortable admitting anything. Even if their stroll in the forest now wasn’t as cuddly as before, they still were content and ran some to stretch their legs and get a little exercise in.

The sun began to set as the forest was painted in darkness again and the two of them laid down next to each other at Mark’s den. The den was the same as before, but it oddly felt cozy, even if there wasn’t much there. It smelled like Mark, though, and that was nice.

The two of them ended up sleeping there for the night, not as snuggly as last time, and neither of them shifted back when morning came.

Jack was hungry and he didn’t want to go hunting; wolf or not, he didn’t like the idea of killing an animal and eating it like that.

They went back home and shifted back there.

 

…

 

It was the day of the full moon, still daylight at the moment, but Jack was on edge. He wasn’t feeling sick or anything like he was last full moon -Mark said he wouldn’t be- but he was still insanely nervous.

Mark could tell easily that Jack was far from comfortable and tried his best to calm him down, putting on a cute Disney movie and preparing a nice meal for him.

“There’s one thing that I still don’t understand…” Jack frowned when the two of them sat on the couch with a plate of food on their laps.

“What?” Mark hummed.

“I thought that when a person shifts during a full moon, especially their first one, they don’t have any control and act all wild and stuff. So if that’s the case, then why didn’t that happen to me on my first full moon?”

“Oh… I was there.”

“…You were there.” Jack huffed out, making a face that showed he wanted a better answer.

“You were ‘wild’ at first, you were growling and acted like you were about to charge at me, but as a more experienced and naturally born wolf, I was able to… I don’t know the word for it… uh, prove my strength I guess? It got you to back off and then I showed I wasn’t a threat to you. And as… well, even if the human part of you didn’t know, the wolf part of you knew I was your mate and was at ease. Most wolves find composure when they are with their mates.”

“Oh…” Jack directed his attention to the t.v., not wanting to look at Mark when mates were mentioned.

It was confusing for Jack, confusing to think that he had a mate and that was just life, it was supposed to just feel natural…

Growing up with the mindset of a normal human made it feel very unnatural.

Jack still hasn’t fully been able to accept it yet.

“It can help tonight… depending on if you want to shift or try to stay human.” Mark added quietly.

He didn’t say anything else after that and turned his attention to the movie.

Jack wasn’t sure what he wanted to do for the full moon yet and kept shuffling through his thoughts until it was time for dinner. Mark prepared a light meal, knowing that Jack wasn’t really feeling up to eating much, and they ate in the living room again. The next movie that was one only acted as background noise for Jack as he started getting too far into his own thoughts to pay attention to what was happening.

He finally decided that he wanted to try to stay human so he would be able to feel more secure about himself in the future and try to relax his mind that was worried about turning into a beast every month against his will. If he could control it now, then he should be able to control it then.

Unfortunately, Jack could tell that he wasn’t going to be able to accomplish this easily as he started feeling jittery and anxious when the sun went down.

“Hey, you’re okay, the first full moon is always the hardest one and you got through that one just fine.” Mark reassured.

Jack started tapping his fingers together restlessly as time went on, feeling his body get tense and warm when the sky gradually got darker.

He moved to the floor after a while, wanting more space than the little squares of the couch, and brought his knees up to his chest. He kept tapping his fingers, moving from his knees to his elbows to his upper arms and then back together again until he accidentally jabbed himself with outstretched claws.

He started panicking a little when he saw the claws, and that only serves to make things worse, feeling his body prickle and shake with irritation and the beginning sparks of pain.

Mark moved from his spot on the couch to sit right behind Jack as he put his legs on either side of Jack’s and pressed his chest up against the brunet’s back. He wrapped his arms around the other’s chest and arms, looking almost as if he was caging the other in, but it was an act to make the brunet feel grounded and secure.

Jack had become too absorbed into his own mind to respond as he trembled in place from the growing discomfort. Mark murmured quiet words of reassurance, telling him things like how he was going to be okay, nothing could hurt him here, the worst full moon was already behind him, and how the other wolf was going to stay with him the whole time. Regardless of what the raven-haired man was saying, though, the voice was a soothing hum in his mind, quieting some of the other impulsive wolfy thoughts that were clouding it.

He shut his eyes closed and focused on taking steady breaths, in and out, slowly and evenly, and he felt himself gradually start to relax.

He then switched his attention to other things, hearing Mark’s easy heartbeat just as much as feeling it against him, feeling the other’s chest move with each intake of breath, smelling the gentle aroma of piney chocolate, and the strain in his muscles faded away along with his hazy thoughts.

He relaxed his shoulders and Mark seemed to sense that he was better and moved to get up and give Jack his space again but Jack quickly latched his hands onto Mark’s forearms that were still around him to keep him there. Mark paused for a bit, probably out of confusion, but he settled back down to his former position in silence.

Jack’s mind cleared from trying to force a shift but now he was troubled with another thought. Mark was going to move away and give him space as soon as he calmed down from shifting, not even trying to linger or hold on like Jack knew he wanted to. They’ve known each other for a little while now and Mark has done nothing but respect Jack’s decisions and help in any way he could. He didn’t even try to get rid of the blame of biting the brunet, apologizing and accepting it as his fault right from the start, even if it was to save his life from falling off that cliff. Jack didn’t even want to think about how Mark felt after the first full moon when Jack returned his kindness with rage and yelled at him to stay away. That night, Mark must have thought that Jack understood that he had turned into a wolf and accepted it as the two of them ran together and cuddled. It must have made Mark heartbroken seeing Jack suddenly change views that morning and yell at him. Then the week when they were apart must have been awful, having the person he recognized as his mate turn on him like that, but he stayed away because Jack asked him to even if the prompts and his emotions were yelling at him to be together. Mark only ran back to the house when Jack starting going crazy from the nightmare and thought he was dead, and even then, the first thing Mark did when he showed up was ask Jack if he was hurt. This entire time he has done nothing but put Jack first.

Jack knew Mark was a kindhearted person, he’s proved that already, and he was attractive and smart and now the only person Jack knew who could understand him now that he himself was a wolf.

Jack was getting too bothered by this because being a mate doesn’t give him a choice, but Jack stopped to look at it differently. If he met Mark under different circumstances, maybe at the market, and they got to know each other, would Jack be okay with dating him?

Jack frowned slightly after he realized that he would be fine with that, more than fine really. So if he was okay with dating Mark as humans, then the wolf part should just be seen as an addition to their relationship as sorts… Besides, being a wolf wasn’t all bad; the enhanced senses and reflexes came in handy sometimes and he did enjoy the wolf cuddles before when he thought Mark was just a normal wolf.

“I’m sorry… I’m not really good at this…” Jack murmured.

“What? Jack, this is only your second full moon, you’re doing just fine.” Mark replied.

“Not about that… about our relationship… you’ve been nothing but kind and I’ve been actin’ like an ass.”

“No, you’re right to act like that, you wouldn’t have to deal with any of this if it weren’t for me…” Mark tried to move his arms away and leave but Jack wouldn’t let him go.

“I’m sorry I’ve been actin’ distant and uncarin’ and all that, it’s just been a lot to deal with lately now that I practically have to change my whole lifestyle but… I want to at least try to make this work; ignoring it isn’t going to help anything.” Jack sighed.

He could feel Mark tense against him and could sense his concern.

“Don’t force yourself to do this just because you feel like you have to.” Mark said quietly.

Jack then turned around in Mark’s lap, facing the other man, and placed his hands gently on Mark’s jaw and cheek.

“I honestly want to give this a chance.” Jack responded quietly and slowly closed the distance between the two of them for a soft kiss.

Mark was surprised but didn’t try to go any further, lips carefully brushing lips, and Jack moved back to see Mark looking at him in awe with a slight silver glow to his eyes.

Jack then stood up, still feeling a buzz in his skin from the moon, but he didn’t think he was at risk of shifting and decided to just sleep for tonight. He tugged on Mark’s wrist lightly to signal for him to follow as the two of them went upstairs and fell asleep for the night.

Jack felt his wolfy mind hum with warmth from their first (honest first) kiss.

 

…

 

Jack was still hesitant and wary at first with their relationship but Mark was always smiling and reassuring him that he didn’t have to do anything he wasn’t comfortable doing, letting him go at his own pace. They shared a few more gentle kisses from time to time, though, mostly before they fell asleep for the night.

He was learning to be more cuddly as well, still missing the wolf hugs, but somehow Mark figured it out and sat next to Jack one day in his wolf form while the t.v. was playing a random show and Jack was drawing a picture on his sketchpad.

Jack put down the drawing and looked caught off guard when he saw Mark like that but chuckled lightly and opened his arms for Mark, snuggling his wolf like he had so many times before.

The mind prompts were telling him that Mark was happy too, feeling content knowing that Jack was there with him.

It gave Jack an idea to try later.

Later was a few days afterwards; Mark was in his wolf form sunbathing on the grass by the backdoor while Jack was upstairs in his room. He was staring at his closet, a small space with two doors that folded out and had his shirts hanging up nicely. However, it was large enough that Jack caught himself contemplating about putting a bed there, or more specifically, a dog bed.

Jack stared at the space for a long while before finally deciding to act and left to search for his stash of extra blankets and pillows. He dragged them back to the bedroom and started setting up a cushioned base with blankets and pillows, then put the softest blanket over it on top. He used the leftover pillows to lean them against the corners and walls then sat back on the ground and looked at his… whatever it was.

The wolf part of him was glowing, proud of his creation, and he suddenly really wanted to try sleeping in it.

Jack has only shifted twice, once during the full moon and once with Mark’s help. He guessed now was a good time as ever to try shifting on his own and got undressed, sitting comfortably on the wooden floor and closed his eyes.

He knew how to shift his claws and teeth, so he started with that but tried to imagine the change going beyond just those, picturing his body transforming with the strange heat that came with it. He focused on his wolf senses, trying to tune into those instincts to follow-through with the shift. Once he felt his muscles tense up and heat buzzed inside of him, he relaxed and let the change take over. It was still a little painful, discomfort crawling with the transformation, but it seemed to ease each time he went through with it.

Jack let his instincts take over, padding over to the fluffy closet bed and pawing at the blankets before adjusting it to his liking and curling up happily.

He dozed off there for a while, getting a little bit aware of his surroundings when he heard a door shut and guessed Mark had come back inside. He knew the door was left open so Mark could come back inside as a wolf if he wanted, but didn’t pay any more attention to it as he drifted off again.

The next time he woke up, it was darker in the room and he heard chuckling. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Mark walking over to him in his human form with a smile and kneeled down next to him.

“Awe, this is cute.” He smiled and brought a hand up to scratch behind Jack’s ear and ruffle his fur.

Jack puffed out a breath of annoyance but tilted his head to the side to give Mark more room to pet.

“Can I join you?” Mark hummed as he brought his other hand up to give double pets under the wolf’s chin.

Jack made some sort of hum that Mark recognized as a “yes” and gave the wolf a few more ruffles before scooting back to shift himself.

Mark carefully stepped over the lump of fur that was Jack after he was a wolf himself and laid down next to the brown fluff. Mark was hesitant to show much affection to Jack in fear of doing something that made the brunet uncomfortable, so Jack was the one who made the first move and nuzzled at the black wolf’s scruff.

After that, Mark nosed against Jack’s scruff as well and Jack could tell their scents were mixing, making both of their wolves delighted.

Jack eventually dozed off again, feeling warm with the other wolf now with him, and he fell asleep pressing against Mark with the black wolf’s head resting lightly on top of him.

The next morning, the two of them shifted back and made breakfast together, moving to sit on the back porch to enjoy the morning’s light.

“Is there any particular reason why my brain wanted to make a bed in the closet?” Jack hummed as he chewed a piece of egg.

“It’s a wolf thing, some may call it a type of nesting, but it’s an instinct the wolf has to make something like a den. Closets have close walls and feel secure which is why it’s a popular spot for that. Then, the more time a wolf spends there, the stronger the scent gets and it becomes that of a safe spot.”

Jack nodded and thought about Mark’s den back in the forest.

“How long have you lived out here?” Jack decided to ask.

“A few years, not too long, though. I lived most of my life as a human with my family in a nice town, but these past few years I wanted to experience more of my wolf side and moved out here. I did have an apartment for a while but once I found that area in the forest, my stuff gradually got moved until I checked out of the apartment and slept there as a wolf.”

For some reason, a small part of Jack thought that Mark always lived out in the wild, but it made sense for him to live like a normal human and also explained why Mark had a phone and driver’s license and other human things. Those objects also happened to gradually get moved to Jack’s house as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I have a few chapters written already but I'm not sure how updating is going to be right now... my mind is in a weird place I guess... I felt bad for not updating when I had it though... I suppose I'd say my mind is troubled, but I guess we'll see what happens or something.
> 
> Please do comment and leave kudos if you like the story, it makes me feel better to know I'm doing... something?... that people look forward to.


	5. Black Licorice

Jack was sitting on the back porch one evening with his easel and blank canvas out as he was painting a person at a coffee shop. Mark had run off into the forest, generally doing more wolf things than Jack does, and Jack had decided to sit out and wait for him as he painted in the meantime. He’d glance up every once in a while to see if he could see Mark and jumped slightly when he looked up to see Mark sitting right in front of him on the grass.

Jack was about to make a playfully mean comment but another thought came to mind and he said something else instead.

“Uh… hi.” Jack said, imitating what he said the first time he saw Mark at his house.

Mark caught on and let out a huffed laugh, getting up to walk over to him and flopping down by his side in a furry mess.

“Wow, so graceful.” Jack teased.

Mark just swiped at the wooden porch, not being able to do much on his side and Jack was sitting on a stool.

The next day, Jack was continuing his painting, trying to get it done for the next market, and Mark walked into the art room where Jack was and sat down on another stool nearby.

“Would you mind if I tried drawing something?”

Jack stilled the paintbrush he was holding and looked over at Mark with wide eyes.

“You… you want to try drawing? I mean, yeah, that’s fine.” Jack moved the paints he had in front of him to the side so the tray sat between the two of them. “Here are the paints, and there’s a little plastic container to your right that has a bunch of pencils and erasers and stuff. Then… uh… ah, here.” Jack stood up and grabbed a sheet of paper from a folder, clipping it to a board and bringing it over to the nearest easel by Mark and set it up for him. “This is mixed media paper, you can use pencil, colored pencil, paints, water color, whatever ya want.”

Jack sat down on his own stool afterwards, returning to his painting, but would glance over at Mark every now and then to see what he was doing. Mark used pencil at first, presumably sketching out the layout of the piece, but switched to using paints and Jack noticed a lot of green.

Time flew by quickly, both of them enjoying the peacefulness and each other’s company, and when Jack was done painting for the day and was ready for a break, he finally stood up to take a proper look at Mark’s painting. There was indeed a lot of green because it was a scene at a forest and a pond, a place Jack didn’t recognize, that had a different style of trees than the ones here. It wasn’t greatly detailed, that would be expected from a person who doesn’t paint for a living, but it was nice in a simple kind of way. Jack picked up a brush and lightly mixed together a pastel green with a touch of yellow, then reached around Mark and traced the tops of the trees with it. When he was done, he put the brush back into the cup of water and leaned down to put his hands on his knees and looked at the picture.

“Woah… that’s cool.” Mark said softly. “How’d you do that?”

“Lighting, since you drew the sun here…” He pointed at the sun in the corner. “Then the light goes in this direction.” He gestured at an angle from the sun to the bottom of the picture. “And the light would be brightest on top with shading underneath it. Here.” Jack mixed together another color, a light blue, and gave the brush to Mark. “Water does it too.”

He gave pointers to Mark as he added details to the little pond, slowly adding depth to the painting, then directed him on adding shadows. When the painting was done, the two of them leaned back to look at it together.

“Hmm… probably my best painting.” Mark nodded.

“Probably your only painting.” Jack guessed.

“That might be true.”

They left the art room to let their paintings dry.

“I don’t know if it’d be any good or anything, but you can take it to the market if you want.” Mark shrugged, getting a glass of lemonade.

The paper it was on wasn’t huge, it was bigger than his computer’s monitor, but it could easily be handled. He decided he had a better spot for it and once it dried, he put it in a simple blue picture frame and hung it above the backdoor.

Jack didn’t know when Mark found it exactly, but when the two of them laid in bed for the night, Mark leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on his forehead.

“Your paintings deserve to be put up more.” He murmured as he snuggle back into his pillow.

“Mine aren’t special, though, they’re just to sell mostly.” Jack murmured back.

“Not even the ones you drew of me?” Mark hummed, faking a frown.

“Those ones were really popular at the market; people must really like wolves there. Although… I did keep one of them.”

The next day, Jack moved back to the porch to continue painting, but when he went inside for the day, he saw that Mark had somehow found that one painting he kept.

There, above the frame of the front door, hung the painting of two wolves sitting on a grassy hill looking up at the moon on a clear and starry night. Jack remembers painting that with wolf-Mark as the one on the right but noticed how there was a lot of room left over and added a second wolf in the picture.

When he painted that, he didn’t know he was a werewolf at the time and now found it half ironic, half amusing.

 

…

 

Now the weekend, Jack was strapping in his paintings that he was bringing to the market while Mark was going to stay behind this time.

“I’m gonna head to the forest to do some wolf things.” Mark informed as he helped Jack put his paintings in the car.

“Wolf things… does it involve chasing squirrels?” Jack smirked.

“Maybe it does, it’s not like you would’ve wanted to join me anyway.” Mark puffed.

“’Cause animals are cute; there’s no way I can ever kill an animal like that.” Jack pursed his lips.

“I don’t kill animals either, it’s just a nice way to exercise and it entertains the wolfy part of me.”

“Maybe I’ll go later to the lake for a swim, I don’t mind doing that.” Jack compromised and Mark brightened up at that.

“You better keep your word on that.”

“I said maybe, I’m not promisin’ anything.”

“Too late, already have expectations of you.” Mark smiled and finished loading the last piece.

Mark stayed in the front yard area to watch as Jack drove off and once he was out of sight, Jack plugged in his phone and started playing whatever song he left off on from before.

The market went by smoothly in the beginning; a few people who liked to visit his set up just to see what he’s been doing commented on his art looking a lot warmer lately. He sold a good portion of them and thought about leaving early to see if he could catch Mark in the middle of chasing a squirrel until he suddenly felt a prickle and a strange sensation like the hairs on the back of his neck were standing. Then he smelled a strong whiff of something like black licorice, starting to get uneasy.

Mark had said that if there was another wolf around, it would be obvious, but he also said that he hasn’t encountered any others around here before, so why was there one now?

He decided to text Mark about it but didn’t think it would be of any use if Mark really went out to the forest because he would’ve left his phone at home.

The scent started getting stronger and Jack tried not to outwardly show his discomfort. He remembered how back at the house he would growl at the idea of another wolf (other than Mark, of course) but now a part of his mind was telling him “here is not territory”.

He let out a quiet huff at the thought of his house being his territory and found it a little amusing, but it quickly faded away when he looked up and saw a man that stood out to him like a bruise, dressed in old dark clothing with messy hair and stared at Jack as he walked by, eyes glowing purple.

Yeah, okay, that was definitely a werewolf, time to go.

Jack looked down and noticed that he had clenched his hands and was now bleeding from his claws so he quickly scrambled around to get something to clean it up before picking up his art to move to his truck.

He texted Mark again but didn’t get a reply. He could only hope now that the prompts, however they worked, made Mark at least be curious enough to go back home and check his phone or see if Jack was there. He secured the rest of his art in the open seats of his car and sat himself in the driver’s side, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He didn’t know why he was so worried, it’s not like the guy was just randomly going to jump him in the middle of the market, but there was still that instinctual part of his mind telling him that the other wolf had ill intentions.

He was still nervous and decided to go stop at the drive through coffee shop to pick up something to drink and help ease his mind a little. The line was long and boring, lots of people wanting coffee this morning, but Jack eventually got his order and drove through town with one hand on the wheel, other holding his drink.

Once he left town and started driving on the old road leading to his home, he let his mind wander a little bit as he took gradual sips from his drink. He finally calmed down enough to not be gripping the steering wheel to death and let muscle memory direct himself home. His mind didn’t catch the blur in the corner of his eye until it darted out in front of him causing Jack to yelp and almost drop his drink as he slammed his foot on the breaks and swerved to the side. He noticed it was one of the wild animals seeing as the road to his home was in the middle of a little forest itself and gasped as he set his drink down and turned the car off. He quickly got out of the car and ran around to the other side to check on the animal and make sure he didn’t hit it because it honestly looked like it did, but there was no blood to be seen anywhere.

The poor animal, a fox, looked terrified and stared at Jack and his car with wide eyes. Jack crouched down to see if he could get a better look just to make sure it wasn’t hurt until there was a growl from across the road and the fox yipped before darting away hastily.

Jack frowned and watched it run off until the scent of black licorice rolled into the air and Jack immediately stood up straight. He whipped his head around to see the stranger walking around his car to stand between him and the vehicle as he grinned loosely. The stranger reminded Jack of a roughed up gang member or something similar with the way his clothes looked worn and how lazily his hair was along with his messy short beard.

“So tell me, what’s a pup like you doin’ in a place like this?” The stranger grumbled lowly.

Jack didn’t reply and instead tried to think of a way to get around the stranger and to his car to escape.

“Come on, I won’t bite… yet.” The stranger huffed when Jack didn’t reply.

“None of your business.” Jack frowned, too focused on the new threat to realize his phone was buzzing in his pocket.

“Where’s your Alpha, hmm? Maybe I wanna talk to them.” The stranger smirked.

“What?” Jack knit his eyebrows together.

He knew he shouldn’t be talking to the stranger but the question confused him.

“Your… well geez, kid, I knew you were a young one but I didn’t know you were this fresh off the bite.” The stranger chuckled.

“What- how did- what the hell?” Jack stuttered.

“You’re part of the pack of whoever bit you and your Alpha leads the pack, so where’s your Alpha? Unless…” The stranger’s smile grew sickly wider. “Unless they didn’t accept you into the pack… which means you’re alone… and free for the taking.”

The stranger started getting closer and Jack took a step back, not liking how that meant he was getting farther from his car too.

“You don’t have any other wolf’s scent on you… and it would explain why you’re so clueless.”

“I’m not clueless.” Jack growled, not knowing why that offended him of all things right now.

“Fresh pups are so fun to mess with.” The stranger sighed.

Jack felt his eyes flicker as he growled louder and brought out his claws and teeth.

“See! Telltale sign of a freshly turned pup is how they can’t control their anger and you get to see their claws; you did it at the market too.” The stranger looked smug as he approached.

“Yeah, well, come any closer and I’ll use ‘em too.” Jack glared and the stranger looked amused.

“I’ve dealt with far more threatening wolves than you, kid; you’re nothin’ more than a baby.”

The stranger got closer and Jack didn’t back up as much since he wanted to stay close to the car, but as the man got into range Jack quickly swiped his hand up towards his face to claw at him. The man seemed to snort before catching his wrist and squeezing it tightly as his own claws stuck into the skin.

“Seriously not joking, you’re not goin’ to intimidate me.”

The stranger quickly brought his other hand up and gripped Jack’s throat, tightly enough to be threatening but loose enough that the brunet could still breathe. Jack grabbed onto the wrist with his other hand to try to pry the stranger’s hand from his throat but it didn’t seem to be of any use. The man started moving Jack’s head slightly, turning it side to side as if he was inspecting the brunet, and smiled.

“What a cute pup you are, too.”

Jack snapped at that, snarling and struggling more to get out of his grip. He thought that shifting would be a good thing to do right now, but the one time he was able to shift by himself he was calm and focused and took his time to do it. Now, his mind was going rapidly and he couldn’t concentrate on the feeling of shifting if he tried. He’d even be happy with a rage shift at the moment; any type of shift would work if he could get out of the stranger’s hold.

Then he felt it, felt it before he saw it. Mark’s fury.

The stranger must have either smelled Mark’s scent or heard him approaching, turning his head, but he realized too late as the black wolf tackled the man to the ground. Jack stumbled down with him but quickly scrambled away and ran over to the car. He put a hand on the side of the car before turning to look over at the two wrestling on the ground.

The stranger let out a yell of pain before shoving Mark off of him and pushing off the ground to stand up and take huge steps backwards. He was slouching forward and breathing heavily, hand grabbing his left arm as the jacket he was wearing was torn there and blood splattered on the grass below it. His eyes were glowing purple and his teeth and claws were being obviously shown, making Jack wonder if he was going to shift right then. Mark backed up, still staring at the stranger, but moved to stand protectively in front of Jack as he let out a terrible snarl that spooked Jack himself.

“Ah, I see my earlier guess was wrong.” The man said with a sarcastic smile before turning around and walking away heavily.

Even as the stranger disappeared from sight, Mark was still growling lowly at the trees where he was last seen and stayed in an offensive stance. Jack took out his phone and finally saw what he missed from Mark.

_-Are you going to be fine?_  
_-Jack? Is the other wolf doing something?_  
_-Please respond._  
_-I can tell you’re uneasy, please text back or I’m going to go over there._  
_*Three missed calls*_

Jack looked over at the direction of his house and could tell they weren’t too far out; Mark must’ve bolted over here when Jack’s fear spiked after encountering the stranger. His car had his projects on the seats and he guessed there wasn’t much room for a wolf to sit comfortably in the seats regardless, so Jack walked over to the truck and opened the tailgate, patting it and looking at Mark.

Mark glanced back at him and slowly walked over there, jumping up into the truck bed, then immediately turned his head to look back at the forest.

Jack huffed but let him be as he closed the back and walked over to the driver’s side, starting the car again and driving back home.

As soon as the two of them rolled up to the house and Jack turned the car off, Mark jumped out of the bed and shifted back, grabbing Jack’s uninjured wrist and practically dragging him inside. Jack didn’t get a chance to complain or question why Mark was doing this anyway as the raven-haired man tugged him over to the bathroom on the lower floor and started the shower. He brushed past Jack and went out to the door, looking over at the brunet who was standing in the bathroom in confusion, and glared.

_”His scent is on you.”_ He said lowly before closing the door, leaving Jack in there.

“What about my stuff in the car? It shouldn’t be in the heat like that.” Jack called out.

“I’ll get them.” He heard Mark barely say as his footsteps receded.

Jack just let out an annoyed puff as he got undressed and stepped into the shower once it warmed up enough. He washed off the blood from his wrist, frowning when the wound had closed but didn’t look like it was healing more. He already took a shower this morning so he didn’t really have a need to be in there a second time; he just washed off the scent as best as he could since he couldn’t smell it on himself and got out.

He dried off with one of the towels in there, wrapping it around his waist as he walked up to his bedroom and changed into pajamas since he wouldn’t be leaving for any other reason today.

As he left his bedroom and walked down the stairs, he didn’t get much of a choice again as Mark grabbed his uninjured wrist again and led him over to the living room. Mark sat down on the floor and leaned his back against the bottom of the couch as he pulled Jack down with him to sit in front, chest to back. Mark wrapped his arms around Jack’s torso and put his head over to rest on the brunet’s shoulder.

Jack didn’t move for a bit as he took in what was happening and glanced up at the t.v. that was playing a random cartoon.

“So…” Jack started. “What is this?” He referred to Mark snuggling him.

“Scent.” Mark said nothing more.

Jack realized that Mark wanted to put his scent back onto Jack and frowned.

“That reminds me, that stranger said a lot of confusing crap like that. Like, he said he couldn’t smell another wolf on me but we literally sleep on the same bed together.”

“You showered this morning.”

“Yeah, I always shower before going to the market-… oh.”

He could tell Mark was still mad, and though he was trying to hide it in person, Jack could feel the anger through the prompts.

“What else did he say?” Mark grumbled lowly.

“He kept calling me ‘pup’ and stuff about being new, then he asked about my Alpha and about my pack… what is that stuff?” Jack mumbled.

Jack knew the basics about packs, but he figured that it might be different for werewolves than it was for normal wolves.

He felt Mark tense up and he was silent for a while.

“I… I haven’t been in a pack for so long that I had forgotten about it…” Mark murmured.

It was silent again as Jack waited for him to continue.

“Wolves have a type of system… pack dynamics… to keep order in the group. There are three labels, Alpha, Beta, and Omega, but others are generally only concerned with who the Alpha is. Alphas are the leaders of the pack, generally a born wolf, and have control over most everything. They have a type of commanding power over the others in their pack; they have the authority. They can also intimidate and show a similar type of power over other wolves who aren’t in their pack… less so if it’s another Alpha but the point gets across.” Mark explained.

“Wait… so we’re in a pack? And the Alpha…?”

“Well… I guess to the wolf’s eyes I’d be your Alpha, but I don’t see it like that… I still don’t really want to see it like that.” Mark mumbled.

“What am I?”

“Well, you’d be a member of my pack, I suppose we have one now since there’s two of us, and you’d just be one of the wolves… nothing really drastic, except you’re also my, uh… mate… and because I would be the Alpha, you’d be promoted to co-Alpha after… the… uh… after it is made official… that we’re mates. But all of that would really only matter if someone joined our pack.”

Jack’s face started turning red but he tried to ignore it as he asked another question.

“Why do you think that other wolf was here?”

He heard Mark growl quietly and tense up again.

“He seemed like a more traditional one… but he also looked like a traveler; I don’t think he will stay for long. He might have been cast out of his pack and started wandering.”

It was silent once more as the two of them watched the colorful cartoon. Mark occasionally nuzzled his neck a little and kept arms firmly around his stomach until one of his own hands moved over to Jack’s injured wrist and lightly rubbed a thumb over the wounds.

“I thought wolves had super healing.” Jack said softly.

“We do, but injuries inflicted by other wolves take longer to heal.”

The two of them stayed in that position for a long time, Jack only convincing Mark to let him go so he could eat as the usual time for lunch came and went without either of them moving.

Mark cuddled up to Jack again as soon as he sat down, though, and Jack decided to just let it go as he ate.

When night began to take over the sky, Mark ordered Jack to stay inside as he went out the front door in his wolf form and ran off to somewhere Jack didn’t know. Jack waited for a while but eventually got tired and walked up to his bedroom. He contemplated between his normal bed and the little closet bed and decided that he should try shifting again.

He took off his pajamas and stayed standing this time, focusing on the wolf part of himself as he closed his eyes and followed the heat that started from his chest and traveled through his figure. It still took him longer than he wanted, the process still feeling slow and taking time for Jack to fully spread the shift throughout his body, but he could only tell himself that it just needs more practice like this.

He lightly stepped over to the closet and curled into a furry mound to fall asleep.

A while later he heard the front door open and close along with footsteps climbing up the stairs. Another moment and Mark appeared in his human form, first looking at the bed to see that Jack wasn’t there and turned to the closet to see the brunet looking at him with one eye open. He said nothing as he shifted back into a wolf, not having put on clothes from just returning, and walked over to the closet to lay with the other.

It was a dreamless night that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told ya this story would be different.  
> So right now, Mark is an Alpha and Jack is not, and Mark does have Alpha powers or whatever you would like to call them and will use them later. Other wolves will also recognize him as an Alpha as well, so he can use Alpha intimidation or whatever it is, though he's a nice guy and won't do stuff like that for the heck of it.  
> Yep.  
> What type is Jack, you ask? He's a wolf, not an Alpha, he's just a wolf; Mark doesn't want to label him.
> 
> I'm still working out that stuff with my mind, makes me worried about writing these stories, but your comments last chapter were so nice ^^ Hopefully I can get over it before it starts affecting the story, that wouldn't be fun. And I hope you guys aren't mad about how I'm doing this wolf au, seeing as it's not like the others, but I promise I'm doing my best on this!


	6. Gathering

The next morning, Mark went outside again and disappeared similarly to what he did last night. Jack made breakfast for himself and sat back on the couch as he ate and flipped through a notebook of ideas for stories and art pieces. He finished eating, cleaned up everything, and was about to start his newest project when Mark finally came back inside.

“I should really just keep a bucket of sweats by the door.” Jack grumbled as Mark shifted back into a human to open the door.

“You should.” Mark agreed and went upstairs to grab another pair from Jack’s room.

“What were you doin’ out there anyway?” Jack asked when Mark came back downstairs.

“Uh… kind of like border patrol? Making sure that other guy hasn’t been over here and knows he shouldn’t be over here if he does.”

“Did you go on trees?” Jack stifled a laugh.

Mark glared at him and then turned around to grab something from the fridge.

“Ha, you did.” Jack smirked.

“I’m a wolf, it’s part of marking territory.” Mark grumbled.

“Hey, this is my house.” Jack pouted.

“Okay, there are some nice trees out there.” Mark gestured to the front door.

Jack made a face saying “no way” and turned his attention back to his notebook.

“It’s still my house, though.” He added after a while.

“It’s pack territory anyway.” Mark hummed. “What’s mine is yours.”

Jack knew he was saying that just in case Jack’s wolf side was getting upset at another wolf trying to “steal” his territory, but Jack couldn’t help and blush anyway, finding it oddly endearing.

They hadn’t come across any other trace of the other wolf since that day but Mark was still on edge and stayed close to Jack throughout the week. He made sure Jack knew he was going with him to the market and stayed by his side closely, scanning the crowds for any sign of trouble even though Jack told him nothing was going on.

When they returned home, the two of them sat on the couch together as Jack flipped through a sketchbook and Mark watched with a frown.

“I don’t know why you’re acting so okay about this.” Mark grumbled.

“’Bout what?” Jack questioned.

“A… another wolf attacked you and you’re all… not worried about it.”

“Oh.” Jack blinked and set his book down on the coffee table. “I’m not really worried ‘cause I feel safe with you around.” He shrugged.

Apparently that was a key word for wolves as Mark beamed at that, pushing off the side of the couch and wrapping his arms around the younger man. He nuzzled against the younger’s cheek and Jack felt his joy. The brunet looked at him with innocent confusion and Mark noticed when he leaned back and saw his face.

“Oh, uh… one of my responsibilities is to keep you safe. It’s… nice to hear you say it.” Mark mumbled.

“Your responsibilities?”

“Yeah, it’s part of my role as your Alpha I suppose, but more importantly, your mate.” Mark smiled.

Jack felt something inside of himself glow at that as well, delighted to have made Mark happy. He snaked his own arms around Mark’s chest and pushed the two of them backwards onto the couch, Jack lying on top of the older.

“I feel all bubbly.” Jack hummed as he gave Mark a quick kiss.

“We find happiness from making the other happy.” Mark smiled, not moving forward to kiss Jack again even though the brunet knew he wanted to.

Jack decided to do it for him, tilting his head down to give Mark a longer kiss, nipping at the bottom lip and sliding his tongue inside as the older male gasped. He heard a low growl as he brought his hands up, rubbing against the older’s chest and up the side of his face before running through the cool black strands of hair. Jack felt as Mark’s grip tensed when the brunet deepened the kiss, humming a little in bliss.

Mark pushed against Jack’s chest lightly, getting him to move back as he saw Mark’s eyes glowing bright silver.

“Jack… I don’t have much in the way of self-control when it comes to you.”

Jack looked down at those lovely silver eyes, wanting to try to do it himself, and felt his eyes brighten as they glowed green. Mark groaned and let out a heavy breath, wriggling a little in place.

“Not helping.” He frowned.

Jack hummed and booped their noses lightly before moving down to Mark’s neck to nose at the scent there. It was a little sweeter than normal, something drawing him towards it more. He also noted that although Mark’s scent was the same regardless of what form he took, he smelled more chocolatey as a human and more like pine as a wolf.

He felt Mark begin to do the same to his neck, lightly brushing his nose against the skin there and breathing in the scent.

It made his wolf side buzz with warmth.

“Why is this nice?” He mumbled softly.

“This is called scenting.” Mark murmured back. “It is one of the more intimate ways to get to know another wolf but… it’s nicest with your mate and we can convey more feelings through it… like comforting each other.”

Jack hummed lightly, almost feeling at ease enough to fall asleep.

“Whas my scent like…?” 

Mark smiled against his neck and breathed in more.

“Like cake… the sweetest cake… with rain… it’s mesmerizing…”

Jack thought back to the other times he has scented him, relaxing in the feeling, and thought about how he was comforted by it. He then was reminded of the first time he heard that term when Mark had said to scent him to calm him down after the nightmare.

Then he froze.

“What’s wrong, what happened?” Mark immediately pulled back, bringing a hand up to Jack’s face and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

“I just… remembered that nightmare I had…” Jack frowned.

Mark seemed to know exactly what he was referring to and brought their foreheads down to rest together.

“It wasn’t real.” Mark murmured. “I’ll always be here for you.”

“Why was it… so awful?” Jack questioned.

“It…” Mark sighed. “For a wolf… one of the worst things that can happen is for their mate to die…”

Mark’s face darkened a little and Jack felt the prompts telling him that the other was sorrowful.

“I wasn’t there… you were alone… I’m sorry… that must have been terrible…”

Jack moved to nuzzle his cheek and a whine escaped from his throat.

“It was my fault for telling you to leave me alone.” Jack countered. “You can’t keep taking all of the blame.”

“I was the one who turned you; I’m the one responsible for these problems. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be living a happy normal life like you should be.”

_Mark is feeling misery._

Jack whined again as he kept nuzzling the other wolf to try to cheer him up.

“But then I would’ve still lived alone… and I wouldn’t have met you…”

“You wouldn’t have needed me.”

“But I want you.”

Mark paused and Jack felt his sadness beginning to fade away. He moved back from the raven-haired man’s face to see his eyes, brown now, seeing tears well up in the corners of them but with a soft smile as well.

“I… I’m sorry.” Mark huffed with a single laugh as he brought a hand up to wipe at his eyes.

“Don’t be.” Jack smiled back. “Not for this.” He leaned down to place a chaste kiss at the corners of his eyes.

“This just went all over the place, didn’t it?” Mark sighed.

“Yeah, but it’s good for us to talk about it.” Jack gave him one last kiss before scooting down a little to rest his head on the other’s chest and turn towards the television. “You know where the remote is?”

“No.”

“Hmm.”

Jack didn’t feel like getting up now.

“Looks like you’re gonna be stuck here for a while.” Jack hummed.

“That’s fine with me.” Mark moved an arm back down to hold Jack as the two of them stared at the t.v. with nothing playing.

Jack eventually fell asleep.

 

…

 

Jack noticed that Mark started wearing a long jacket around the house lately instead of just sweats. Most of the time he had the buttons in the front undone that revealed his chest still, but Jack found it odd that he started wearing one at what seemed like a random time. It wasn’t cold outside either, and usually when he went outside he shifted into a wolf that wasn’t wearing clothes anyway.

He didn’t ask about it, he didn’t even know where Mark got the jacket anyway, but he guessed the raven haired man could wear what he wanted.

Mark was on his phone more than usual as well, appearing to be texting a lot. Mark talked to Jack a lot, telling him various stories of his past as well as what he’s planning to do later as well as stuff that’s happened to him out in the woods when Jack hadn’t gone with him. Jack was used to Mark telling him everything, but when Mark kept whatever it was he was doing on his phone in silence, Jack knew something was going on. He didn’t know if it was bad, Mark being silent about it didn’t have to mean it was bad, but Jack was starting to get a little suspicious.

Mark wasn’t acting any differently than normal aside from that, though.

What caught Jack off guard was how close the next full moon was. Time seemed to flow by oddly, everything seeming to be so much more than it actually is. He’s grown so close to Mark and yet they haven’t known each other for very long.

Three days before the full moon and Jack finally found out what Mark has been up to.

“Jack… this is just a question right now, but do you think you’d be okay on your own during the full moon?” Mark asked as the two of them were eating on the back porch.

“Mmf?” Jack hummed through a mouthful of food.

“If you don’t want me to go, I won’t!” Mark said hurriedly.

“No, no, I’m wasn’t freaking out.” Jack huffed a laugh. “But… uh… can you elaborate?”

“So, not too far off is a gathering where other wolves meet up at. It takes place on the night before the full moon, but if I were to go I’d need to leave early to make sure I can get there in time.”

Jack nodded, showing he was listening as he took another bite from his plate.

“Usually I don’t go to those, I never really had a need to, but that’s where I could pick up supplies and mixtures and medicines that are made specifically for wolves. I have a few back at my den in the forest, but it’s not a lot.”

“Okay, are those important?”

“Well, I have the most important medicine at my den but… there are also a lot of things I don’t have that are used to help new wolves as well as simple things like a powder that adds this really nice wolf-friendly flavor to food.”

“Okay…” Jack turned his attention back to his half eaten plate of food as he thought about it.

“I hadn’t thought about trying to go before, I wasn’t going to leave you on your first full moon and all that, but you’ve been doing a lot better than most new wolves. If you think you’d be okay on your own for this next one, I can head over to the gathering and get the supplies for you. There’s a lot of helpful things, I can’t remember them all right now but there’s stuff like an elixir that helps dull the senses in case they get too intense, there’s one that helps you sleep if you’re to riled up, one that helps calm you down, one that puts the wolf’s mindset more forward, and a lot of medicines since our normal healing abilities tend to screw with human medication.”

Jack was silent as he thought about it more. Did he think he would be alright on his own this time?

“Again, if you don’t feel comfortable doing this, I can stay and always go back another time.”

“Well now the logical part of my mind is tellin’ me that it’s more important to get the medicine and stuff.” Jack huffed.

“Your well-being here is important.” Mark countered.

“It’s not that I don’t think I can handle the moon by myself…” Jack said slowly. “I think I’m more afraid of the idea of it. Still only see the full moon as a sign of going rogue ‘n all that.”

“But you’ve never had a problem with that before.” Mark smiled a little. “The full moon serves to pull out the wolf side of you, causing you to become more aware of those instincts and feelings, and new wolves have a problem with it at first because they can’t control it and lose sight of the human side of themselves. You’ve shifted into a wolf a few times, now… have you ever felt like you weren’t yourself? Like you didn’t have control over your thoughts and actions?”

Jack shook his head no.

“Then you shouldn’t have a problem with it now, not to mention the fact that you didn’t even shift last moon. And if you want, you can shift early on the night of the full moon to be in your wolf form without it being forced on you.”

“If you were to go, when would you have to leave?” Jack questioned.

“Well… uh… probably tonight. It’s not far but it’s not really that close either.”

“You’d take the car, right?”

Mark let out a single laugh.

“I… uh… didn’t know if I was allowed to.”

Jack fell forward a little bit and clutched his plate as to not drop it when he started chuckling at that.

“What? Why wouldn’t you be allowed to use the car? Were you going to carry all that stuff back home by hand? Were you going to make a wolf backpack?” Jack smiled.

“It’s your car.” Mark argued, making a stupid frown that made Jack laugh more.

“You can use the car, dummy.”

“Then I’d probably leave tomorrow morning. If there aren’t any complications or anything, I should be able to make it back before the full moon rises but… I just wanted to make sure you’d be okay with being alone if I couldn’t.”

“I think I’d be okay.” Jack finally decided.

“Alright, well, think about it more tonight and I’ll ask you again in the morning. I’ll do my best to make it back in time if I do go, though.”

Jack thought about it throughout the day. He was worried, definitely worried, about being alone during the moon, but he also wanted to use the opportunity to prove to himself that he could handle it by himself.

He also briefly wondered about what would happen if he went with Mark to the gathering but knew nothing good would come of that. Maybe he could go later, but Jack felt very uncomfortable at the thought of going to a gathering filled with other wolves right now. Mark hadn’t suggested that Jack could go with him either and Jack knew that Mark would have a good reason for it. He was fine, though, and didn’t want to try to interact with other wolves until he was fully comfortable with his own wolf side.

The two of them slept snuggled up closely together that night, Mark still wearing the jacket, and when morning came, Jack still agreed for Mark to go.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Mark murmured as the two of them stood by the car, Jack holding onto the other’s shoulders lightly.

Mark was dressed nicely, wearing comfortable jeans and a button down shirt along with the jacket he’s been wearing lately with fairly new black shoes.

“I’ll be fine.” Jack smiled. “ _Your_ worry is beginning to make _me_ worried.”

“I can’t help it.” Mark huffed. “I don’t want to leave you like this.” He leaned forward to peck the brunet’s lips lightly.

“I think I’ll manage.”

Jack stepped back to let Mark walk to the car and be on his way to the gathering, but Mark didn’t leave right away and instead took off his jacket. He turned it around in his hands and threw it over Jack’s head, dropping it to wrap around his shoulders like a blanket.

“I have my phone with me.” Mark added. “Stay safe, alright?”

Jack was silent at first, looking down at the jacket hanging loosely around his shoulders, a little bigger than what he would normally wear, but brought his hands up to keep it snug.

“I should be saying that to you.” Jack finally replied. “Don’t do something stupid around a bunch of other wolves.”

“I don’t plan on being stupid.” Mark huffed out a laugh.

The two of them shared another quiet kiss before Mark finally left and seated himself in the car, giving Jack one more wave goodbye before driving out to the dirt road.

Jack went back inside and sat on the couch for a bit, fiddling with his hands and looking around at seemingly nothing.

He was bored.

Then he thought back to when he lived alone and he wasn’t really bored back then. Mark was a presence that lightened up the mood and brought smiles to each day, so much so that the house felt kind of bland now that he was gone and would be gone for a little while.

Jack eventually stood up and walked over to the art room to sketch out another drawing, having nothing better to do.

He had to make his next meals by himself, having been so used to Mark making them food that it was odd for him to be cooking something and alone too.

He kept the jacket on throughout the day, though it was a little big on him, but he found it comforting and had him relax greatly when he could easily detect Mark’s scent on it, almost as if he was there in the house. Jack understood now that Mark kept wearing the jacket around for that exact reason, so when it was time for him to leave, the jacket would have his scent supposedly for the entire time he’s gone.

Mark must have been thinking about this a lot to make sure Jack would be okay on his own; it was heartwarming.

That night, Jack sat on his bed and was reading a book quietly with his phone next to him, occasionally getting texts from Mark.

_-How are you doing?_

_-Fine, reading a book atm_

_-Made it to the gathering, lots of people here, and two of them are lying on the floor sleeping_

_-Couldn’t stay up for it?_

_-Idk, but on a brighter note, I found the people who make the medicine and stuff and I got most of it, but I have to wait for them to make the other stuff_

_-Alright, I’ll be here reading this very interesting book about wolves myself_

_-I don’t even want to know what it is_

Jack outwardly laughed at that.

_-Fine, then you just don’t get to hear about this wonderful and totally realistic story about a wolf adventure_

_-Our lives are a wolf adventure_

_-True. I think I’m gonna go to sleep pretty soon, though_

_-Couldn’t stay up for the rest of your story?_

_-It’s just that good_

_-Sure it is. Don’t stay up just to talk to me, though, go to sleep if you’re tired_

_-Stop worrying about me and go sit in a corner and wait for your stuff_

_-Why do I have to sit in a corner?_

_-That’s what good dogs do_

_-You’re a terrible person if you make your dog sit in a corner_

_-Okay, fine, go sit in the middle of the gathering, I’m sure you won’t be in anyone’s way there_

_-I will go sit wherever I wanna sit_

A few minutes passed and Jack texted Mark again.

_-You sitting in a corner?_

Mark sent him a middle finger icon and Jack laughed aloud again.

After he had gotten too tired to continue reading, Jack set the book down on the side table and situated himself underneath the covers of the bed, keeping the jacket on and pressing his face into the pillow on Mark’s side of the bed. He managed to fall asleep a lot easier than he thought he would.

The next morning, Jack went about the day normally, making himself breakfast and heading to the art room to continue working. He hadn’t gotten any more texts from Mark but didn’t suspect anything of it, guessing he might either be sleeping or still busy with getting supplies.

He was lonely, though; noticing it as soon as he woke up that he missed Mark and it only felt worse since he knew Mark was far away and not a simple walk to the forest. 

Night came by too quickly for Jack’s liking, but knew it was going to happen whether he was mentally prepared for it or not. He decided that he didn’t want to try to fight against a forced shift if it happened, so when the sky started getting dark, he made plans to shift early like Mark had suggested.

However, throughout the day he also noticed that he was feeling lonely, and even if the jacket and place on the bed smelled like that lovely chocolatey pine, it didn’t feel like Mark completely. His mind kept wandering to the forest, thinking about the den in there and a small part of him wanted to go there as a wolf. Of everything Mark had, his den was the one real thing that was _his_. Seeing as he was going to spend the night as a wolf, Jack guessed that heading to the den was a nice idea; that and he didn’t want to accidentally break anything in the house in case he got restless or something.

He took off everything but the jacket, being too attached to it to remove it and instead tied the long sleeves together at the ends to wear it around his neck like a cape. The loop that the sleeves made was big enough for the wolf’s neck as well, so as Jack went outside to shift, the jacket rested comfortably over the wolf’s back and stayed there around his neck.

The full moon wasn’t fully up yet, so Jack made the journey to the den quickly so he could lay down on the makeshift bed when the effects of the moon finally started kicking in. It wasn’t bad since Jack had already shifted, but he still felt an odd tingling in his body and his mind fuzz up a little bit. He curled up on the bed, taking in a deep breath and relaxing in the scents and peace there. It smelled subtle, Mark hadn’t been here in a while, but he lived here long enough that it was obviously his den. The night was quiet, moonlight streaming in slightly through the leaves, and Jack was reminded of how much he adored nature. He relaxed in that spot for a long time just to think, thinking about the beauty of nature and the sereneness of the forests he was grateful to have. The den was placed in a secluded spot that not a lot of other animals scurried around, so Jack was met with comfortable silence with only the gentle chirps of the occasional cricket to listen to. It was nice and Jack found that he was at ease here even though there was a full moon tonight.

The jacket laying over him acted as a blanket as Jack curled up and closed his eyes, feeling sleep wash over him almost instantly in an odd way.

He was woken up not too much later from a sudden pulse of worry though the prompts with a hint of fear. His head instantly lifted up with perked ears when he heard a sound similar to a howl in the distance and recognized it as Mark.

Mark was looking for him.

He sat up and exited the den, tail swishing with eagerness to see the other wolf again and looked in the direction of his home. He’s never really howled before, but he managed to make a short howl-like bark and felt the worry ease in his mind.

It was still the middle of the night and the air was cold as a breeze prickled his skin, so Jack quickly returned to the den and curled up on the blankety bed while he waited, eyes trained on the entrance.

As soon as he heard the padding of paws, he lifted his head and saw Mark run in through the brush of leaves, stopping when he saw Jack, and the remnants of worry faded away. He made a relieved yipping sound as he walked over to Jack and laid down next to the brunet, nuzzling the part of Jack’s scruff that wasn’t covered by the jacket and leaning heavily against him.

Jack knocked his muzzle lightly against Mark’s head before resting his own on the ground, watching as Mark got the message and laid his head down as well.

It took a little longer for Jack to fall back asleep this time, still a little excited from seeing Mark again, but the familiar scent of pine and chocolate soothed him enough for sleep to take over before long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "AAagahah you can't leave Jack alone like that!!!"  
> Guys, he's a big boy, he can handle himself just fine.  
> Mark wouldn't leave him like that if it wasn't important anyway, as getting medicine and similar things is important and the gathering only takes place on the night before the full moon because they're weird like that.


	7. Fruity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has official passed my "Dusks and Dawns" story, which was my first story and is my precious baby ;;  
> Wow.  
> It really does mean a lot that you guys are enjoying this story, though. Honestly and truly, thank you :3
> 
> Also, Jack still has the jacket tied around him, I just didn't mention it.

Jack woke up first, lifting his head to see the gentle stream of sunlight filling into the den. It’s been a while since Jack has played around as a wolf and he could feel his instincts urging him to run around and explore the forest again. He remembered how he “promised” to go back to the lake with Mark and felt a warm flutter at the thought, wanting to go now.

He looked over at the sleeping black furball, carefully stepped halfway over it, then flopped down ungracefully on top of the other.

It woke up Mark right away; the black wolf immediately going tense as he shot his head up and looked over at Jack in surprise. Jack rolled off of him, equally as lazy looking, and pawed towards the exit while lying on his side. Mark tilted his head to the side, not knowing what the brunet was trying to convey, to which Jack just huffed and stood up to leave by himself.

After exiting the den past the brush, Jack turned to glance behind and saw Mark following him, confusion still in his eyes, but content.

Jack led them over to the lake and, as soon as it came into view, he dashed towards it and jumped into the water with a splash. He quickly swam over to the middle of it, most of his body dunked as he pushed his legs through the water to keep himself up. He paddled around in the water, turning to see Mark and paused when he watched the black wolf move back a good distance. Mark then bolted towards the lake, jumping once he got to the edge and landed halfway on Jack.

The two of them crashed beneath the sudden wave, pushing themselves up against the surface again as they swam over towards a more shallow area to catch their breath. Jack laid down, head resting on his paws, and he was reminded of when he first woke up as a wolf on his first full moon in the lake just like this.

It was odd to think about; his past as a human seemed like a distant memory now.

He then thought about how he first treated Mark when he realized his first shift wasn’t a dream. There was that small pang in his chest, a part of him feeling regret about what he had done back then, but he knew he couldn’t get upset over it. That was in the past, they didn’t have to worry about that because everything is okay now.

Mark had laid down in the water next to him, letting the slow ripples wash against his fur as he watched Jack with a content expression. Jack scooted over to him, laying side by side as their fur touched, and he rested his head back down again. It was a nice feeling, an odd one, but soothing in a way since neither of them moved or tried to talk, just relaxing with the water’s calming rhythm.

Jack felt this familiar glow again, not knowing if it was coming from his mind or his body, but it was an urge almost to get closer to Mark, wanting to show affection towards the other wolf. He wasn’t sure when he started feeling it, he wasn’t even sure what it meant, but his mind would show glimpses of scenes with the two of them together. Sometimes kisses, sometimes cuddles, sometimes going further, and Jack didn’t know how he was supposed to react. A part of him wanted to, though, wanted to find a way to get closer, to have their relationship progress into something more.

He would recognize subtle prompts once in a while that referred to Mark as his mate. Jack has never said it aloud before, never specifically calling Mark his mate, because there was still that small human thought that didn’t like the idea of the universe choosing his partner. It was like arranged marriages. Forced arranged marriage.

His wolf side didn’t have a problem with it, though; that much was obvious. Those prompts would tell Jack to get closer, to nuzzle into his scent, to outwardly show affection so Mark knew, and something else. Something Jack hasn’t been able to decipher yet, but he has been able to catch that that part of his mind wanted to let Mark know he wanted _something_ , was ready for _something_. It didn’t really help and it made no sense to Jack because how could he be ready for something if he didn’t know what it was?

Their lake adventure turned more into a lake nap as the two of them stayed resting there, neither of them wanting to stray away from the other. Eventually, they both started getting hungry and stepped out of the lake, shaking their coats to dry off and ran back towards the house.

“I have something special planned for breakfast today.” Mark smiled as they shifted back grabbed some clothes.

Jack was a little upset that the jacket he had wrapped around him before got soaked from jumping into the lake, but he knew he’d be able to wash it and get Mark to wear it again.

In the bedroom on his desk sat a black bag with a zipper top. Mark walked over to it and unzipped the top, throwing the flap off, revealing a metal container inside. He pulled that out and set it down next to the bag, sliding the top open to reveal an assortment of bottles and vials of different sizes and colors. Some were powders, some look like crushed up herbs, and a small number of them were liquids.

“This one…” Mark picked up a small tube with a pale red powder that looked like a spice. “…tastes great to wolves.”

“What else is in there?” Jack asked as he walked up to the desk and peered inside the metal container.

“Medicine, flavor stuff like this, some things for wolf instincts, and uh… some other stuff.”

“Some other stuff?” Jack raised an eyebrow with a huff.

“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t mess with this stuff unless you know what it does.”

“Wait, is there something in here that is poisonous or something?”

“Oh no, nothing like that, but… you shouldn’t just take something in here because you can; there are side effects and… other things.”

“Alright...” Jack hummed as the two of them walked back down to the kitchen, a part of him still wondering what all was in the container.

Mark started making breakfast, scrambling eggs in a small bowl and adding a small amount of the light red powder into it. Jack turned on the little toaster oven and cut two biscuits, putting the slices inside once it was preheated and watched as Mark quickly cooked the eggs in the pan. Jack got out a few pieces of bacon and cut them in half, adding them to the pan after the egg was moved to a plate to cook those as well. Soon, they finished making their egg and bacon biscuit and sat down together to eat.

“It doesn’t look any different.” Jack hummed as he inspected the biscuit.

“Of course it won’t; it’s still the same food. It just has a touch of something else in there.” Mark chuckled.

Jack sniffed it and he could certainly smell something different but it was nice. He took a bite, eying Mark who was still chuckling, then finally tasted the difference.

“Oh myff-“ He said through the food in his mouth. “Thish i’ goo’.”

“Yeah?” Mark smiled.

It was kind of savory, reminding Jack of seasonings like salt and pepper, but it was more vibrant and added a nice spark of flavor to each bite.

“I’ve never tasted anything like this before.” Jack added after he could speak clearly again.

“Our senses are different than humans but taste sometimes gets skimmed over. However, others have created these spices and flavors made just for wolves that taste great like this.” Mark explained.

“And there’s more than just this?”

“Yeah, I brought a few of them.” Mark nodded.

“Ooo, I can’t wait.”

They finished eating, Jack complimenting the taste more, then cleaned up the kitchen before Jack went to his art room to work on another piece. Mark pulled up a seat next to him, on his left, and leaned over to rest on his shoulder.

“Is this okay?” Mark asked softly.

“Yeah.” Jack hummed since he didn’t really need his left arm anyway.

The brunet tried to focus on his picture and get a good amount of it drawn, but he found himself getting distracted by having the other leaning on him. It wasn’t because he was uncomfortable, quite the opposite really, he found that he wanted to pay attention to Mark more than the drawing. After a while, he heard a soft breathing sound, almost like a snore, and turned to look down at Mark to see that his eyes were closed and he was asleep.

Jack felt that glow again that wanted him to get closer to Mark, something about seeing the other peacefully content in sleep filling him with his own type of peace. He carefully put away his drawing equipment before gently lifting Mark’s head off of his shoulder and moving to pick him up, finding it easier than he expected, probably due to being a wolf with stronger muscles now, but still huffed with the weight as he slowly carried the sleeping body to the couch. He didn’t want to try climbing the stairs to go up to the bed so he walked over to the couch instead to lay the two of them down, thankful that it was big enough for the two of them. Mark was taking up most of the room, though, and Jack ended up laying on his side and resting and arm and leg over the other, face pressed into the side of his neck.

Jack was growing fond of the scent, mind relaxing instantly as he nosed against the skin where the scent was strongest and humming quietly. He felt as Mark shifted in his sleep and tilted his head down to rest over the brown fluff of Jack’s hair.

_”Together.”_ Jack’s mind told him. _”This is how it should be.”_

He couldn’t find it in himself to disagree, body fuzzy with warmth as he caught himself drifting off to sleep from being at ease just by having the other’s presence with him.

 

…

 

Jack woke up to something moving him in an upwards position, realizing he was now sitting up, though still leaning heavily against Mark, as the two of them rested against the back of the couch.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you… sorry.” Mark said lowly through a yawn.

“Ya should be apologizing for waking me up…” Jack murmured, eyes closed and wrapping his arms around Mark’s chest to cling onto him.

“We can go to sleep at night, that’s what it’s for.” Mark laughed quietly, still trying to wake up fully.

“But I’m tired nooow.” Jack huffed.

“That’s because you just woke up.” Mark responded, escaping from Jack’s arms and standing up.

Jack protested against moving, trying to catch the older man before he walked out of reach, but missed and instead chose to flop back down on the couch.

“C’mon, I’m hungry and I can guess you are too.” Mark added as he walked back to the kitchen.

“I’ll eat in my dreams.” Jack said as he pressed his face into the couch and felt as his mind began to wander off again.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does in my dreams.”

“How about I go get another one of the wolf-special spices and we can try out that one.”

He heard Mark bound up the stairs and come back a few seconds later, fiddling around in the kitchen as he started making something to eat. He heard the blender after a few moments, sitting up to peak over the top of the couch to see Mark making some type of smoothie. The raven-haired man poured the newly blended ingredients, some light pink color, into two cups and walked back over to the couch, handing one to Jack.

“What’s this?” Jack asked, sniffing the smoothie and picking up the strong fruity smell.

“Fruit.” Mark smirked.

“Oh really?” Jack rolled his eyes.

The two of them took a sip from the smoothie, Mark smiling with the taste as Jack looked at it in awe. This time, the spice added to the drink was a sweet flavor, almost like candy, that mixed well with the fruity taste of the smoothie. Jack chugged the smoothie quickly, falling in love with the taste, and put the cup down dramatically on the coffee table when he was finished.

“You like it?” Mark chuckled, already knowing the answer.

“I think these wolf spices are the best thing ever.” Jack replied, watching as Mark finished his own cup.

He saw the pink fruity liquid on Mark’s top lip and an image popped into his mind, causing him to freeze at first until he thought about it more and found that he actually did want to do it. After Mark set his own cup down, Jack scooted over to the raven-haired man and swung a leg over his lap, holding onto his shoulders. Mark looked at him in surprise as he leaned closer to his face.

“You got a bit of smoothie… on your lip.” Jack hummed as he closed the distance and gingerly licked along Mark’s lip, tasting the hint of smoothie and smiling before slipping his tongue between parted lips.

He could still taste the flavor on Mark’s own tongue, a mixture of his own taste along with the remnants of the candy sweetness, and made a happy hum as Mark kissed back. It was slow, but Jack felt his heart flutter as the glow returned once more, feeling himself almost purr as Mark moved his hands to rub at the brunet’s sides as their kiss continued leisurely, eyes closed and focusing on the feelings.

_”Closer.”_ Jack’s mind urged. _”Get closer.”_

Jack slide one of his hands up from Mark’s shoulder to his hair, threading his fingers between the strands as he deepened the kiss, hearing a delighted groan from Mark as they pressed closer. Jack’s mind kept telling him to go further, though, to find a way to get even closer, to have more. But it wasn’t something Jack could just outwardly ask for… he didn’t know _how_ to ask for it let alone find a way to do it without being embarrassed. It was clear that Mark wasn’t going to take it any further, though, only following Jack and matching his pace. If Jack wanted something else, then it seemed he was going to have to be the one to start it.

However… as of right now, that wasn’t something he could do without his mind being embarrassed or uncomfortable. He didn’t want to just outright go for it either… his mind wasn’t wanting to cooperate again.

Even if they weren’t going to go any further than this, though, Jack still found that what they were doing now was pleasant. He rested comfortably on the other’s lap as they continued their affectionate kisses, eventually parting only to press the bridge of his nose against Mark’s neck as the other did the same. The raven-haired man’s grip tightened on the others sides, a low rumble coming from his throat as he placed an open-mouthed kiss on Jack’s pulse. The brunet let out a quiet whine but nuzzled in closer none the less.

His wolf was happy.

He placed a soft kiss on Mark’s neck before turning his head and resting it on the older’s shoulder.

“Mmm…” Mark hummed lowly as his bumped his nose against Jack’s cheek that was up.

Jack’s mind had gone fuzzy with warmth, wanting now to just curl up in the raven-haired man’s arms and fall asleep.

“We were just asleep.” Mark murmured, a quiet and deep rumble in his voice still.

“There’s no limit to how much one can sleep.” Jack replied softly, wanting to keep the quietness.

“Don’t you have something you need to do?” Mark tried to argue.

“Perks of working at home means I make my own schedule.” Jack hummed with a small smile. “I have enough projects done for a while as well as others I didn’t sell right away…”

“Jack…” Mark tried once more.

The brunet responded by whining sadly and trying to hide his face in the other’s chest under his head. Mark chuckled and adjusted his hold to hug the younger man closer to him.

“You know it’s already hard enough for me to say no to you.” Mark sighed.

“Good.”

Mark let out another sigh, smile coming through with it, as he stood up from the couch and caught Jack’s legs before he fell.

“If we’re going to go to sleep… again… then at least let us move to the bed.” Mark added.

Jack didn’t respond, hooking his arms around the other’s neck as he was carried up to the bedroom, feeling the older pause when they entered the room.

“Which one do you want?” The raven-haired man asked and it took a moment for Jack to realize he was asking about the main bed or the mini one in the closet.

“Umm…” Jack let go with one of his arms and gestured towards the closet.

“Alright.” Mark smiled as he walked them over to the closest, setting the brunet down on the ground as he started to undress himself, shifting into a wolf as he padded over to the closet and waited for Jack to shift as well.

Mark was surprised when the brunet didn’t shift but instead crawled over to the closet bed and threw his arms around the wolf’s neck, snuggling into the fur and letting out a content sigh.

“I wan’ wolfy cuddles.” Jack mumbled softly as he laid down on the cushions with Mark and dozed off yet again.

The black wolf let out an amused huff and curled around the younger man as best he could before falling asleep himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm usually a chapter ahead, meaning when I posted ch. 6, ch 7 was done and I was working on ch 8, but I haven't been able to keep that up, and I wanted to finish 8 before I posted this, but I didn't want to keep this chapter from you guys either, but now I'm behind o-o  
> I'm going to try to keep a steady schedule, but otherwise it's going to slow down until I can write more, especially since I'm trying to keep "Hacking Life" on a normal updating schedule now too.  
> I'll do my best, though!
> 
> Also, last chapter, I'm pretty sure someone got curious about the wolf potion/medicine our duo has now, and yes I do have something planned with that ;3 I'm wondering if anyone will be able to guess what I'm going to do with that.


	8. First Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6632 words later...
> 
> Okay, I wrote bits and pieces of this chapter in the span of around 3 weekish (I had some of it written before last chapter was posted) so it might be a bit scattered here and there but it should still have a flow to it... sort of... hopefully

Since they fell asleep during most of the day, it wasn’t a surprise to the brunet when he woke up in the middle night feeling fully rested. Mark was still asleep next to him, pressed against his side with the steady rise and fall of his furry stomach with each breath. Jack stayed still for a while, taking in the peacefulness of the quiet night in darkness, but he couldn’t stay still for long before wanting to get up.

He tried to be careful about it, not wanting to wake up the other, but it was no use once he moved his arm off of the black pelt and scooted away as Mark immediately opened his eyes to look at him. Jack smiled softly and pet the fur behind the wolf’s ear lightly before getting up and walking over to the door. He heard the tapping of claws against the wooden floor, signaling that the wolf was following him as he stepped downstairs and went out through the back door. He sat down on the grass in front of the back porch, watching out of the side of his eyes as Mark sat down next to him.

“It’s a nice night.” Jack hummed.

The wolf nodded.

It was true, the sky was a clear beautiful dark blue to black, stars twinkling in the darkness with that same familiar quietness. However, even in the peace of the night and the company of having Mark by his side, Jack still felt like he was missing something. It was some strange type of loneliness… but what was he missing? Mark must have picked up on it through the prompts as he gently nudged the brunet’s side with his cheek, humming softly.

“Just thinking…” Jack responded as he looked out into the line of trees, wondering how a person finds something they didn’t know about.

He lifted an arm up and wrapped it around the wolf’s shoulders, lightly rubbing the fur of his scruff as they sat together. He wanted to do something, though, and eventually stood up and started walking towards the forest. Mark stood up and followed him, as expected, and the two of them made their way to the familiar path of the forest trail once more. It was strange, walking with the wolf now that he knows the other is actually a werewolf instead of just a normal wolf. It seems like a lot of changed since then, like life was moving by quickly, but Jack was happy that his life went in this direction. Sure, it could’ve gone differently and maybe less terrifying and sudden at first, but he was happy none the less. Besides, if the universe fated him to be together with Mark, then there had to be a reason.

They took their time on the path, not having anything else to get to, and slowly looped back around until they returned to the house. It had gotten a little bit brighter outside by the time they made it home, but it was still too early for much as they went back inside and sat on the living room floor. It reminded Jack once more of the times before he knew Mark wasn’t just a normal wolf as he held his arms out to signal for the wolf to come closer. The brunet cuddled up to the wolf as he wrapped his arms around the fur, nuzzling his scruff and breathing in the piney chocolate. Mark let out a soft rumble as he nuzzled back, a little oddly since Jack wasn’t a wolf himself, but it was a warm feeling none the less. Jack let out a content hum, loving the soft feel of fur against his cheek as he started resting more of his weight against the wolf.

However, that strange loneliness was still there.

Mark leaned back, shrugging off Jack's arms as he looked at Jack with concern in his eyes.

“I told you.” Jack said with a small smile to reassure the other. “I’m just thinking.”

Mark made another soft rumble before leaning over to lick Jack’s cheek. The brunet started laughing and brought his shoulder sleeve up to wipe at his cheek.

“Eww, wolf spit!” Jack grinned as Mark huffed a laugh and started licking at his cheek again.

The brunet laughed more as he playfully pushed at the wolf, trying to move him away to stop him from licking, but the wolf was determined and pushed Jack down on the floor on his back before laying on top of him with his tail swishing happily. Jack pushed at the wolf’s fur again, trying to move him, but Mark kept his weight down on the other and didn’t budge.

“You’re heavy.” Jack huffed with a smile “Imma die.”

Mark hummed and pressed the bridge of his nose under Jack’s chin, resting his head down and rumbled softly. Jack let out a sigh of defeat as he brought a hand up to gently pet the wolf’s head.

“I thought you were the one who was against sleeping.” Jack hummed as he lightly ran his fingers through fur.

Mark shuffled a bit to rest his head on Jack’s chest as he looked up at the brunet’s blue eyes.

“Goofball.” Jack said lightly as he played with the wolf’s ears, watching them flicker with the touch.

They stayed like that for a little while as they waited for the sun to rise, watching as the light gradually filtered in through the windows. Jack patted the wolf’s side, getting the wolf to lift off of him as they both sat up on the floor.

“Why don’t you go shift back and get some clothes on while I go start breakfast, huh?” Jack murmured as he fluffed the wolf’s cheeks. “I cleaned the jacket, too.” He added as he continued to mess up the fur on the wolf’s face. “It was nice.”

Mark’s tail swished more as he stood up and ran over to the stairs, climbing them quickly as he disappeared into the bedroom. Jack chuckled softly as he walked over to the kitchen and grabbed the ingredients to start making pancakes. Mark returned shortly after, wearing sweats and the long jacket, and walked up behind the brunet to wrap his arms around the other’s stomach and rest his head over the other’s shoulder.

“Whatchu making?” Mark hummed as he watched Jack mix the ingredients in a bowl on the counter.

“Pancakes.”

Mark turned to kiss the brunet’s cheek softly before stepping back to grab a pan and wipe it off to prepare for cooking. It was nice, having the two of them work together effortlessly to make breakfast, and once it was done, they sat down together on the couch with a show on t.v. like they normally did. They pressed their sides together as they ate, going quickly so they could set their plates down and rest together without the food being in their way.

Jack felt that other thought appear once more, not the one about loneliness, but the one that kept wanting him to be closer. He guessed that they were thoughts relating to being a wolf, probably having wolf-related needs that he didn’t have as a normal human, but he still didn’t entirely know what they meant. It kept telling him to be closer, to a point where it got repetitive and Jack didn’t know how to respond. Mark must have sensed his unease through the prompts as the raven-haired man bumped his nose against the brunet’s cheek and hummed softly.

“What’s been on your mind?” He asked. “You’re worried.”

“It’s just thoughts.” Jack murmured. “They’re different than from when I was a normal human… I think.”

“Oh.” Mark responded, kissing the brunet’s temple. “Yeah… in addition to your human instincts, you now have your wolf ones to deal with too. Do you know what it is your thoughts are asking for?”

“No.” Jack huffed, laughing a little at the absurdity of wolf thoughts. “They’re not very… elaborate I guess.”

“A common one is wanting to go on a run with the pack.” Mark suggested.

Jack thought about it; he does spend time as a wolf with Mark and let his wolf side run in the forest, but it was the second part of Mark’s idea that got to him. _Pack_. They didn’t really have one and the thought of a pack made those other lonely thoughts return. 

“We don’t really have one… a pack.” Jack hummed.

“No…” Mark murmured sadly.

The brunet moved to rest his head on Mark’s shoulder and brought an arm to hold his chest.

“Is that a wolf thought?” Jack asked.

“Yes…” Mark sighed, bringing his own hand over to rub the brunet’s back. “Wolves work in a pack, it makes them stronger since they are together and safer too. Then, they have their social side… wolves like to be with other wolves that they see as family.”

“Oh…”

“I was alone for so long I kind of… grew dull to it.” Mark huffed.

It was quiet for a bit as the two of them thought in silence.

“You should try to get in touch with one of your friends.” Mark finally said. “Even if they aren’t a wolf, it would still help… seeing a close friend.”

“I could try.” Jack said softly.

Jack thought of a few people he thought would be nice to see again, but most of them lived in his old town that was too far from here; it was a plane flight away. Others had moved away for college and he wasn’t quite sure where they were now. The only person that came to mind that might be able to see him was a man that he met, when he first moved to the forest home, at the town he sold his paintings at. The man was the first person Jack got to know here, and they became friends quickly. He was also the one who told Jack about selling his paintings and other art pieces at the market and gave him ideas on what to draw. However, the man had left a long while ago for one of his own projects, leaving to another state, and Jack didn’t know when he would return.

Maybe, though… just maybe.

 

…

 

It was getting close to dinner time, though Mark was out in the forest doing another patrol of the area. Jack wasn’t sure what he did out there, but the raven-haired man said it was something he needed to do, whether there was a potential threat or just to check the area to see how it looks.

“You should go with me some time.” Mark suggested when he went out the backdoor.

“Sounds borin’.” Jack huffed. “And I wouldn’t know what to do anyway.”

“That’s why you should join me, then you could learn.” Mark smiled as he laced their hands together and swung them lightly side to side.

“Mmm… I dunno.” Jack sighed. “I’m not feelin’ really wolfy right now.”

“Maybe next time then?” Mark offered.

“Maybe.”

“Alright, well, I’ll be back soon.” Mark hummed, bringing both of their hands up to place a soft kiss on each of the brunet’s hands.

“You’re so cheesy sometimes.” Jack giggled, pressing their fingers together for a second.

“’Cause I like you.” Mark said playfully, leaning forward to kiss Jack’s nose.

“Goof.” Jack smiled fondly.

It’s been about a half hour since then. Jack had gotten hungry, and although he wanted to wait for Mark before preparing dinner, he wanted to eat food more and decided to make something for himself. He looked through the cabinets and fridge, looking for anything to eat, but everything seemed bland. He then remembered the spices up in his bedroom, smiling at the thought of them as he ran up the stairs to the container they were in. He opened the top and stared at the various bottles, seeing the strange symbols on them that acted as name tags, but Jack didn’t know what any of them meant. Mark had said he bought a few of the wolf spices, so Jack was curious to taste a new one, but he didn’t know which one was which.

Jack sighed, eyeing the bottles for a while and thought about just leaving them, until his stomach growled and he was reminded of how boring the food they had in the cabinets were right now. He’d have to go to the grocery store soon to restock.

Maybe he could smell the difference between them? Of the two spices he has tried already, they both smelled delectable, so it shouldn’t be too hard to differentiate between the food spices and the others. Maybe they were grouped together and he could find those two spices he already had before. 

He took out one bottle, seeing some type of crushed up green herb and frowned, knowing it wouldn’t be that one. He saw a few liquids but shook his head at those ones too. He found one with a purplish powder and opened the top, bringing it up to his face to get the scent and immediately grimaced, pushing it away from his face and put it back. That one definitely smelled like a medicine and _not_ a nice flavor powder. Jack then looked to the corner of the container, seeing three smaller bottles, and picked up one with a nice red color powder. He remembered that one of the spices he had was a reddish color, and took the lid off of the bottle in his hands. When he finally caught the scent, he paused and looked down at the bottle, glancing at the strange symbol on its lid. He brought it up to his nose once more and breathed in the scent, closing his eyes and smiling. Whatever it was, it smelled _amazing_. It made him feel a little nice, as oddly as it was, and it reminded him of walking into a room surrounded by one of his favorite candle scents. This one had to be a flavor spice, it just had to be; it smelled so divine so it had to taste even better.

Jack carried the bottle downstairs to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards and fridge once more for something to eat, deciding on making pasta. It was quick and simple, just boil water and make sure something didn’t catch on fire. He got out a pan and started boiling some water, adding in the pasta after it bubbled and stared at it in hopes of speeding up the process. After it was done cooking, he poured out the water in the sink and waited for the pasta to cool down before pouring it into a bowl. He was too lazy to make anything else with it and wanted to eat now, so he added a little bit of the spice and mixed it in with a fork, hoping the spice would make up for the lack of other flavors.

He was right; even though the pasta was plain, the wolf spice made up for it and made the meal taste delicious. Jack smiled with each bite, eating it quicker than he thought and was sad when he realized his bowl was empty, scraping his fork along the side sadly as he imagined there being more food there. He thought about finding something else to add the spice to or just tasting the spice by itself, but decided against it and instead wanted to save it for later so it could last longer.

He walked up to the bedroom and capped the bottle before putting it back away, feeling light and bubbly as he swayed around the room happily. For some reason, he was feeling warmer than normal, warm in a way that he wanted to purr and lay on the bed with a smile. It was almost as if he was relaxing on a spa day without the need for a spa, feeling comfortable and happy. He walked over to the bed on light feel, flopping down on the blankets and rolling over to Mark’s side. He laid his head on the pillow nuzzling the scent there as he felt his mind wander off with subtle thoughts as he dozed off a little. 

His mind felt fluffy, eyes closed, and he wasn’t sure how much time passed, but he felt like he was floating on a cloud. Mark’s scent smelled heavenly and the brunet started thinking about having the other with him. He wanted the raven-haired man to return, to join him on the bed, to snuggle into that lovely scent that’d be so much stronger than the trace of it on the pillow.

 _”Together.”_ His mind said.

Jack smiled almost giddily at that. Yeah. He had wanted to get closer with Mark, but he was always struggling with himself to put his thoughts into actions; however, now it seemed like everything was agreeing to be with Mark. There wasn’t any of that lingering anxiety or doubt in his mind and he now just wanted to find the other man and be together like his mind wanted him to. He pressed closer into the pillow, shifting around a little on the bed as he wondered where Mark was.

Mark needed to come home soon… Please.

Jack drifted off once more in thought, curling up on the bed and hugging the pillow as he daydreamed about the warmth swirling around under his skin. He didn’t hear when the backdoor opened, but he lifted his head up in surprise when he heard the raven-haired man walk into the bedroom, wearing only sweats as usual.

“Hey, I’m back from-“ Mark stopped mid-sentence, standing in place as he turned to look at Jack with wide eyes.

Jack sat up, holding the pillow in his lap with his arms around it still, and brightened when he saw the other man. Mark blinked and took a slow breath, frowning in confusion as he stumbled over his next words.

“Jack… you… your scent… what?”

Jack smiled, not know what was happening, and leaned forward more.

“Mark.” The brunet said happily. “You’re back.”

“What…” Mark closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind before speaking again. “What did you do when I was gone?”

“Well… I got hungry and the food we have right now was borin’ so I added a new spice to it which was _amazing_ by the way, but then I dozed off here and waited for you.” Jack answered with a smile and held his arms out around the pillow to signal he wanted a hug.

“Y-you tried a new spice?” Mark gasped, turning quickly to the container of bottles in the room as he mumbled to himself. “Jack.” He added sadly, making the brunet frown in confusing at the tone.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jack asked, putting his arms down and feeling a little self-conscious now.

“Which one was it?” Mark added with more concern. “Which… no, it had to be one of these ones… which one did you take?” Mark asked as he held three bottles in his hands, showing the different contents to Jack as he watched in a mixture of concern and fear.

“Uh… the first one there; the reddish one.”

Mark let out a sigh of relief at that, setting the bottles back into the container as he ran a hand down his face.

“Oh, Jack…” Mark sighed once more. “I told you not to take things randomly like that… you don’t know what you did…”

“I… I’m sorry.” Jack frowned, something inside of him feeling low at the thought of making the other upset.

“No, no… don’t feel bad.” Mark tried to reassure. “But… you… your _scent_.” He added, almost falling to a whine at the end.

“Mark?”

The raven-haired man took a deep breath to try to calm himself, realizing it didn’t work as well as he hoped when it only made him breathe in Jack’s scent more.

“This… this isn’t right, Jack, you’re under the influence of the stuff you took. That wasn’t a wolf spice, it was a type of… mixture that affects how you feel.”

Jack hummed sadly, wanting to have the other man closer, but not knowing what to do since the mood seemed troubling. He was so close; so close to being able to hug him and cuddle into his scent and be together. Jack did something wrong, though; he didn’t know what that mixture he took does exactly, but it was making Mark upset and not wanting to come over for even a hug. He started feeling worse; he had finally gotten the courage to finally go somewhere with their relationship and he screwed it up by taking whatever was in that bottle.

“Oh, Jack, no, don’t cry.” He heard Mark say sadly, finally walking over to him and wiped away tears that he didn’t even know where there.

“What… was in that bottle…? What does it do?” Jack asked hesitantly, leaning into Mark’s touch on his cheek.

“Well… thankfully you took the lesser of the three that we have…” Mark sighed, looking back at the container that held the small bottles. “But… you…” Mark paused as he thought about how to phrase it. “It’s like an aphrodisiac; however, the one you took really only affects the body and not the mind.”

Oh.

So that’s why he was feeling the way he did. Jack stayed with his cheek pressed against the others hand, thinking about it as he nuzzled the hand further. There were a lot of things he _could_ be thinking about, questions he probably should be asking, but his mind stayed at the detail that the powder, the aphrodisiac, didn’t affect his thoughts. He wanted to be with Mark and it was his own idea. Yes, the aphrodisiac did help encourage the idea of it, but he wanted to be with Mark regardless. Now that he had the effects of the mixture running through his skin, though, it gave Jack a choice; he had a chance to finally do something other than soft kisses and gentle touches while he had a good reason to do so.

Mark was right there… and he just wanted to be with Mark without that invisible barrier that makes them act so hesitant around one another.

“Mark…” Jack murmured, putting a hand up to hold Mark’s hand that was on his cheek.

“Jack, I… I can’t.”

“You said that it doesn’t affect my thoughts!” Jack frowned, grip growing stronger.

They were so close; he almost had Mark in his arms. He wasn’t trying to do anything rash and wasn’t expecting them to suddenly go from small touches to the other end of the spectrum.

He just wanted to be… _together_.

“You should be able to trust me…” Jack continued, voice softer. “I… I just…”

He didn’t know what to say; he didn’t know what words would be appropriate here, so instead, he grabbed Mark by the shoulders and flipped the older around so he was sitting on the bed resting against the headboard. Mark stared with wide eyes, breath stopped as he watched Jack rest carefully in his lap. Even if Mark was trying to hide his emotions, Jack could pick up the subtle change in his scent, slowly getting sweeter in a way.

The brunet still had that warmth flowing under his skin that only fluttered more as he placed his hands on Mark’s shoulders and slowly rested his forehead on him.

“Trust me… please…” Jack murmured. “This is okay… you’re okay…”

He heard Mark’s breath stutter, hesitantly putting his hands on Jack’s hips as he stay quiet. Jack smiled softly, moving to brush their cheeks together to try to encourage the other. He heard Mark make a faint hum, almost in a desperate tone, as the raven-haired man finally started giving in to the yearning he had. He pressed his nose against the brunet’s neck, breathing in slowly. He then let out a purring type rumble, pressing in impossibly closer as his breath left warm puffs from his mouth. His hands moved from the brunet’s hips down to the butt of his pants, warm breath making the brunet get a strange sense of goosebumps as he nosed at Mark’s scent as well.

“Jack…” Mark mumbled, voice laced with something warm.

Mark’s scent was getting sweeter, almost in a musky way, and Jack felt his body purr with happiness as he was enveloped in warmth and comfort, though still thrumming with the effects of the mixture. He wrapped his arms around Mark’s chest, feeling the skin gently under his hands and hugging it tightly.

Mark mumbled something once more, too muddled to make out, but Jack felt as he pressed open mouthed kisses against his neck and his scent only turned more enticing. Jack knew that their scent changed based on their emotions sometimes, but this was so much different; this was Mark’s scent when he was… affectionate. It was so lovely; Jack felt his mind start to fog up from the pure delight of it. Was this what Mark had meant when he kept mentioning Jack’s scent?

Mark made another soothing rumble as both of them starting following their wolf instincts more. Jack felt pleasant, loving the scent and intimacy, but as he heard Mark make a soft growl and bite lightly at his neck, a part of his mind purred as he slumped against the other’s chest, whining faintly as he lazed in strange bliss.

“Jack…” Mark repeated longingly. “I…”

“It’s okay…” Jack murmured. “It’s okay.”

The brunet took the first step, moving his hips forward to press against the other’s in a small circle, almost as if testing the waters, and smiled when the grip on his ass tensed and Mark’s breath faltered.

“Oh god… your scent… is so wonderful…” Mark mumbled.

“Yours too.” Jack said, almost huffed out in a soft laugh.

He circled his hips once more, finally getting Mark to do the same as the other’s grip only served to press the two of them closer together. With Mark only wearing sweats and Jack’s light clothing himself, it was fairly easy to feel each other through the loose fabric.

The two of them started panting lightly, scents intoxicatingly sweet as they rocked their hips together. It was better than Jack had expected, guessing the scent of arousal and the aphrodisiac was adding to his feelings, but it looked like Mark was getting just as lost as he was. It didn’t take long for the two of them to speed up their movements, getting more needy as Mark pressed Jack’s hips against him with more force. They let out more pants and soft moans, both feeling the warmth in their stomachs spread as they humped against one another.

Jack wanted to blame the aphrodisiac for it, but the sensations of feeling the other man against him with his captivating scent and those sweet soft sounds in the air brought him right to the edge.

“M-mark.” He breathed out.

This felt too good; it shouldn’t be allowed to feel this good.

Mark responded with a needy whine, bucking their hips together, hard-ons against one another, and Jack let out a keening sound. It was overwhelming, the different feelings running through his senses; everything was muddling his mind in such a good way that Jack let himself completely relax and just give in to it. He let the sensations overtake him, body subconsciously following the motions, and when the warmth under his skin glowed and he felt himself reach his limit, he felt himself come undone, still wearing clothing and all. He didn’t realize he had bitten a part of Mark’s shoulder, voice muffled when he came, but Mark knew what had happened as he thrust their hips together hastily to reach his own release.

Jack knew in the back of his mind he would have been embarrassed for coming undone so quickly like that, especially while they were still wearing clothes, but he didn’t feel too bad when he heard the raven-haired man’s breath hitch as his hands tightened their grip as he came soon afterwards. Jack could at least use the excuse that he had taken aphrodisiacs; Mark didn’t have any excuse and the thought made the brunet smirk slightly.

The two of them stayed still, Jack still on the others lap with their heads resting on one another’s shoulder as they stayed breathing in the other’s scent that was still as lovely as ever. It didn’t take long for the two of them to start feeling uncomfortable as their now-dirtied clothes started to dry, though. Mark moved first, lightly kissing Jack’s cheek with a smile as he moved his hands up to rub at Jack’s back softly.

“You… you wanna shower?” Mark asked quietly, but it was phrased more as a “do you want to shower first” rather than “do you want to shower together”.

Jack huffed, smiling as well, but wondering to himself about how long it will take to finally get Mark to understand that he was okay with their relationship and shouldn’t be afraid to ask for something that could be more intimate.

“No…” Jack murmured. “I’m thinking bath.”

“Okay.” Mark laughed softly. “I can get our clothes washed.”

“No…” Jack repeated, smiling when he felt Mark pause his movements in confusion. “You gotta clean up as well.”

“Oh… uh… well, there are two bathrooms-“

“Mark.” Jack huffed, leaning back to see the other’s face as he placed a soft and loving kiss on his lips. “We’ve seen each other naked, compliments of being a werewolf, and now the two of us just came together while both wearing pants. Dude, I think we’re running out of excuses to be embarrassed around each other.”

Mark blushed, making Jack chuckle at the cute way he looked, and the brunet got off of his lap only to grab his hand and lead him over to the bathroom. Mark still had that face that made it look like he still wasn’t believing it was real, but as the water warmed up and filled the tub, Jack made him take off the sweats and get into the water first before the brunet removed his own clothes and got into the water as well. Jack rested his back against Mark’s chest, head turning to the side to lay against Mark’s shoulder as he closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of the other man and the water. Mark made a happy hum, moving his hands to wrap around the brunet’s chest as he rested his own head against the other’s. It was quiet and soothing, warm water relaxing the two of them as they felt their bond grow stronger from an intimate moment. Their scents were returning to normal, though still pleasant, and they could have fallen asleep there if they wanted to until Jack spoke up.

“Okay… I like what we did, I really did… but why the hell do you have wolf aphrodisiacs?”

Mark let out a strangled sound, almost as if he was trying to hold in a cough as the question obviously threw him off guard. He lifted his head up off of Jack’s as he hesitated on where to put his hands before deciding to leave them be.

“I told you not to take any of that stuff unless you knew what it did because I was afraid this very thing was going to happen.” Mark whined, trying to defend himself.

“Yeah I figured.” Jack chuckled, hoping it would calm down Mark and show he wasn’t upset. “But why do you have that stuff in the first place? I thought it was just medicine and stuff to help newbie wolves like you said before and food spices.”

“That stuff is there too.” Mark huffed. “But they come in bundles and I just wanted to get most of the stuff just to have it. I wasn’t going to use the aphrodisiacs or try to do anything to you; I just wanted to have it just in case!”

“Just in case of what?” Jack asked, laughing loudly now as Mark got more flustered.

“I don’t know!” Mark whined once more as he splashed water with his hands. “I don’t predict the future; for all I knew we would have never used any of that stuff ever, but here we are.”

“This is too funny.” Jack smiled as he grabbed Mark’s hands and put them back in front of him. “Don’t worry, I’m honestly not upset, it’s my fault for blindly taking it because it smelled nice and I trust that you weren’t planning on using it either.”

Mark seemed to relax at that, still frowning from Jack messing with him, but at ease none the less.

“But now I want to know what those other two do.” Jack added with a grin. “You said the one I took was the lesser of the three, so what the hell do the other two do?”

“I don’t like this conversation anymore.” Mark complained.

“You bought them; tell me what they do.”

“How about no.”

“Fine, I’ll just try them out when you’re not here again.” Jack teased.

“Nope! Nope, that’s a bad idea, just no.”

“Then tell me what they do.”

“Fine.” Mark huffed and poked Jack in the side. “But don’t get the wrong idea about them; I really wasn’t planning on doing anything with them.”

“I get it, I get it.” Jack smiled. “I’m just curious.”

“Okay…” Mark purposely hesitated as he went to explain the other two bottles. “One of them is like the one you took now except it’s a more extreme version of it that _would_ affect your mind. I don’t think you’d be able to get rid of the effects of it from a clothed make out.”

Jack chuckled at his description of it, waiting for him to continue.

“Then the other one… is for something that only happens to werewolves... it’s… hmm.” Mark paused as he thought about it. “Do you know how animals… you know… do the do?”

“Do the do, huh?” Jack teased. “Well… I know how sex works.”

“But like… do you know any details about it?” Mark pouted, still not getting used to the teasing.

“No, I don’t watch Animal Planet.”

“Well… uh… you’ve had a pet before at least, right? Have you ever had a pet go into heat before?”

“Oh, you know, I think my friend had a cat with that before.” Jack said as he thought about it more. “But he said something about getting the kitty fixed and then didn’t have that problem anymore.”

“Okay, do you know what a heat is?”

“Uh… I’m going to guess the cat wanted some company.”

Jack could tell Mark wanted to face palm or at least show something of the sort with how Jack was responding.

“I don’t think you really wanna know.” Mark decided to tease back. “It doesn’t seem like you do.”

“No no, tell me.” Jack puffed, poking Mark back as he turned a little in the tub to face Mark.

“So, animals, more specifically females, have what is known as a ‘heat’ which is basically how they show they want to reproduce.”

“I’m not a female.” Jack said, jumping to the point.

“Yeah.” Mark hummed. “I noticed.”

“Oh you did, did you?”

“You don’t want to hear the end of the explanation? Is that what I heard?” Mark said enthusiastically, obviously joking with it.

“I’m sorry.” Jack giggled. “You’re making it too easy to tease you. Continue.”

“We’re not female, no, but we do have a thing that you can call a heat where we want to…”

“Do the do.” Jack said with raised eyebrows and a joking smile.

“Jack!”

“What? You’re the one who said it like that!” Jack grinned.

Mark swatted at him and Jack only laughed more, splashing water back at Mark, though stopping when the water started splashing out of the tub and onto the floor.

“Okay, we have a thing called a heat that makes us frisky?”

“You describe this in the weirdest way.” Mark puffed.

“Am I right?”

“Kind of?” Mark pursed his lips. “Obviously since we are both guys we don’t function like animals would.”

“We’re not animals.”

“You get what I’m trying to say.”

“Yep.” Jack rested back on Mark’s chest, getting comfortable once more as he closed his eyes.

He was surprised that he wasn’t feeling weirded out by this. Maybe he still had the effects of the aphrodisiac in his system, but Mark said it didn’t affect his mind and he wasn’t feeling any different. Maybe he was finally accepting his life as a wolf.

“So… for us… it’s more like we want to be intimate with our partner for the sake of being together.”

 _Together_. It was that word again. Jack didn’t reply, Mark pausing as well as he expected Jack to jump in and say something like he was before. Was that what Jack’s mind has been wanting this whole time? To have that with Mark?

“What’s a heat like?” Jack decided to ask.

“Well, depends on why it was triggered.” Mark shrugged. “There’s a few ways… uh… there’s the mixture we have in the bottle that will start a heat but it’s not as… feely…? If you use that, you don’t really have the emotion behind it as much and the heat usually doesn’t last as long.”

“So you can have a heat _without_ using that bottle?”

“Yeah, that’s usually how heats work anyway. The two main ways a heat can start is when you either want to be intimate with your partner and its appropriate and all that; there’s a bond and the two of you get along well and there’s a conscious and subconscious decision and… it’s hard to explain, and then the other way is if your mate is in heat. It’s just kind of… domino effect there.”

“W…what?”

“You shouldn’t worry about that; heats usually don’t start between a couple until a long way into their relationship.” Mark reassured. “It’s not like you’ll wake up one day and suddenly be in heat. If you don’t want it to happen, it won’t.”

“Oh.”

Okay, now Jack was getting a little weirded out by it, but if Mark said he shouldn’t worry about it, then he’ll trust him and stay calm.

The two of them ended the explanation there, eventually starting to actually wash themselves off since they were in a bath to clean themselves anyway. They took turns washing the other’s hair, finding it nice to do so as they both purposely added more soap than necessary to make everything bubbly. After they finished cleaning up and got out, they both put on comfortable sweats and walked down to the kitchen together.

“You may have already made dinner but I’m still hungry.” Mark hummed.

“Make toast or something.” Jack pouted. “I wanna go to bed and you’ve turned into my nightly pillow.”

“Maybe I want an actual meal.”

“That’ll take too long to make.” Jack frowned. “Don’t you want cuddles too?”

“We were just together in the bathtub.”

“More cuddles.”

“Fine.” Mark said, giving in as usual.

He made something quick, eating it quickly as well since Jack was hovering by him expectantly. After he finished, Jack practically dragged him upstairs to the bedroom to lay back down in bed, both thankful that the sheets weren’t ruined from their earlier activities.

“Should I be concerned from the amount of cuddles you seem to want?” Mark asked as they laid down together with Jack resting his head on the other’s chest as usual.

“No.” Jack answered simply. “Cuddles are good.”

“Okay, got it.” Mark smiled. “Cuddles are good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "everythubg seened bkabd" - If you were there on my Discord server, you will understand.
> 
> I did it, though! Finally got this chapter written, yay!  
> Remember that this story is different than normal a/b/o stories, so as you can see, while people usually write heats as a monthly/yearly/set time thing, my version is _not_ time sensitive.


	9. Returning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is shorter compared to my other chapters but it was just kind of sitting on my word document and I thought someone might like the update even if it is shorter.

Jack was scrolling through posts on his phone, checking a few social media sites and looking at a few of his friends’ pages. He’d been thinking about what Mark had said before about seeing one of his old friends again and started checking their pages to see if he could even recognize some of them. Some of them he lost touch with, some were too far away to meet again, but there was still that one person he had thought about before that lingered in his mind; the friend who the brunet met at the town here.

The man had left town a long while ago, leaving for work, and it had been so long that Jack guessed the man would’ve stayed at his new place from then on. He was in another state, for that matter, and moving sometimes proved to be difficult.

The brunet decided to look at the man’s profile to see if he could find out anything about the man’s work or just simply see how he was doing. He scrolled through a few pictures, seeing images of the man smiling and hanging out with other people he was working with. Jack’s attention was then changed to a message posted a few days ago stating that he had finished up all of his work and he finally was free to start a new project.

Jack felt himself get a little excited, not wanting to get too far ahead of himself, but he couldn’t help but smile a little at the timing. Maybe his friend would be able to come down to visit, even if it wasn’t for long, now that he had some free time on his hands. He decided to send a message, thinking that he’d at least be able to say hello there, and set his phone down to wait.

…

“Mark! Mark! Where’d you go? I have something exciting to say!” Jack said excitedly as he ran out from his bedroom and quickly hopped down the stairs, seeing Mark stand up from the couch in the living room –actually wearing normal clothes for once- with eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“What is it?” The raven-haired man questioned as the brunet ran up to him and hugged him with a wide smile.

“Remember how you said I should try to see one of my old friends again?” Jack started, smiling brightly and watching as Mark smiled back. “Well there was this one guy who I met here, it was a long time ago and all, but he was the one guy I was friends with when I first moved here. He left for work but he had posted a message not too long ago saying he was finally done with it and he had some free time. I sent him a message to see how he was and it was pretty funny actually. He was surprised to hear that I still lived here and he was talking about how he missed this place so I told him he should come over to visit and he said yes!”

“That’s great!” Mark grinned, bringing Jack forward for another hug.

“He said it’ll take a few days for him to get everything settled where he’s at and then he’ll be on his way here! I get to introduce you to him too!”

“That sounds great.” Mark said as he gave Jack a soft kiss.

“You’d like him; he’s a sweet guy.”

“Oh, sweeter than me?” Mark huffed with a small laugh, clearly teasing.

“You’re a teddy bear, that’s how sweet you are.” Jack laughed. “That’s what you should be; you’re not a wolf, you’re a fluffy bear.”

“Oh no, my true identity has been found out!” Mark said as he booped their noses together.

 

Jack spent a few days cleaning the house a little and making things look nice for when his friend finally arrived in town. It’s been so long since the brunet had spent time with another friend, just relaxing and goofing off, and although Mark’s company was nice and he really did love being with the other, it’s not the same as hanging out with a group of friends. He had to admit that he missed his old friend too, even if they didn’t hang out all the time; it was nice when they did see each other since Jack had lived alone back then. Mark was looking forward to it a little as well, wanting to meet one of Jack’s old friends and wanted to see the brunet happy as well.

The two of them were sitting on the couch together eating dinner when Jack pursed his lips in a small frown.

“I just realized, my friend won’t know I’m a wolf now.”

Mark set his plate down and turned towards the brunet, tilting his head as he thought about how to respond.

“Well… do you know anything about him, like, if he’d be a wolf or if he ever talked about any wolf stuff before?”

“Uh… it’s… it’s been a long time, I don’t really remember.” The brunet admitted. “I know he lived out here before I did and enjoyed the whole nature aspect about it and he seemed to like the wildlife and all. I don’t know if he knows about werewolves or would be okay with it or anything, though.”

“You don’t have to worry about it.” The raven-haired man reassured. “We don’t have to tell him and we can just wait and see what type of person he is, but from what I’ve heard from you, I’m sure he’s a nice guy and wouldn’t think of you differently.”

Jack smiled softly and leaned his head down to rest on the other’s shoulder, having put his plate down as well as he closed his eyes and hummed quietly.

“I hope so.”

 

That night, the two of them shifted and curled up in the closet bed together, snuggling closely. The bed there was beginning to keep their scents, almost reminding Jack of Mark’s den in the forest, and he was beginning to feel more at ease here just like how he felt in the den. He hummed softly as he snuggled up against the black wolf’s fur, a little upset that being a wolf meant he couldn’t lay on top of the other like he did as a human, but was content none the less to be close.

…

_Jack was running on all fours, paws hitting the dirt underneath with a thud. There was someone behind him, maybe more, but he didn’t want to turn around to check. He was in a forest, it wasn’t the one by his home, and it was filled with a different style of trees that were clustered closer together._

_There was yelling, shouting as whoever was behind him chased after him. He could hear the airy sound of something flying past his face, occasionally hearing the crack of wood when a tree was hit. He was being shot at; he didn’t know what was happening or why it was happening, but he knew it was nothing good._

_Mark wasn’t anywhere around, Jack was happy for that at least. As much as he didn’t want to be alone in this, he was comforted at least at the thought that Mark would be safe. Another shot rang out as Jack jumped over a tree root, but as he landed, he felt the muscles in his side ache. He stumbled as he tried to pick up the pace again, but his side started throbbing and he turned his head to glance back only to see a trail of blood behind him._

_He was scared, alone, and hurting badly. He had no idea where he was and had no place to hide; he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep running with his new wound as well. He heard himself start to whine as he tried to jump over another obstacle in his path, stumbling on the landing but pressing forward none the less. He wanted to stop, to rest and tend to his injury, and the fact that he was shot terrified him. His vision started getting darker, fog in the dense forest growing thicker as he kept running. He heard another gun shot and everything seemed to crackle like a fire._

 

He woke up suddenly, ears perked as he threw his head up and looked around to see he was in the closet bed and not in a strange forest. Mark was already awake, eyes wide in concern as he nudged Jack’s scruff lightly with his muzzle. Jack looked down at his paws, seeing the fur and reminding him of the dream where he was being hunted.

He felt uncomfortable, immediately wanting to shift and get away from his wolf form. He shuffled backwards as he shifted back into a human, reaching over to the floor where his clothes were to grab his boxers. He leaned against the nearest wall in the closet afterwards, looking down at himself as he let out a small shaky sigh.

Mark didn’t hesitate to shift himself, grabbing his own pair of boxers as he scooted over to the brunet and put a hand on his shoulder. Jack looked up and hummed sadly, leaning forward to wrap his arms around the other as he nuzzled into the raven-haired man’s neck. Mark did the same, rubbing his hands soothingly across the brunet’s back.

Jack was reminded of the nightmare he had before, but now he had Mark with him. The other’s relaxing scent calmed him down and he found himself taking careful breaths to ease his mind.

“You okay?” Mark hummed softly.

“Yeah… just… another nightmare.” Jack answered, relaxing his weight in the other’s arms.

Mark let him relax, letting him take his time and continued to hold him closely. Jack couldn’t shake the thought from his mind, though, as it kept returning to the idea of wolf hunters. There were always hunters in the movies, so there could be hunters in real life. The chance that his nightmare might actually come true one day… it wasn’t something Jack wanted to think about. He knew he should ask about it, though.

“Are there… hunters?” Jack asked quietly, snuggling into the other to try to find comfort in the warmth.

“Oh.” Mark hummed sadly, understanding that that was what the nightmare was about.

Mark nuzzled his cheek, humming softly in a comforting tone as he tried to make the younger feel better. It was a rough topic.

“There are people who don’t like us.” Mark said, holding the other closer. “There aren’t actual hunters who go after wolves for a living… but there are people who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt people like us none the less.” He sighed. “There’s a chance that… if you run into someone who doesn’t like wolves… that they might try to go after us if they find out about us…”

“And they’d… kill us?”

“There are humans who kill other humans… and there are humans who kill wolves…” Mark sighed again as he kissed Jack’s temple, trying to keep the tension as low as possible. “Jack, if I thought either of us was in danger, I’d tell you. I’ve never noticed anything out of the ordinary while I’ve been here; I haven’t even seen many other wolves aside from the gatherings.”

“But there are people who don’t like wolves who might try to hurt us…”

“People like that exist… yes.”

Jack let out a heavy sigh, not knowing how to feel about hunters, or at least people who don’t like wolves, existing. It made sense, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, but there would be people in the world who wouldn’t treat werewolves the same as other people, seeing them as monsters that shouldn’t be a part of human society.

Jack wasn’t a human anymore…

His life wasn’t normal anymore…

There are people who might try to kill him in the future…

He heard Mark make a sad sound, guessing the prompts must have been telling the older he was feeling scared. He felt Mark give him a reassuring squeeze with their hug before moving back to the closet doors, closing them to cover the two of them in darkness. Mark directed him over to the middle of their cushion bed once more, getting him to lie down with his back faced towards the doors. Mark then lied down behind him, chest to back, and draped an arm over the younger to hold him close. For a second, all was quiet, then Jack heard a low rumble coming from Mark, similar to a growl in a way, but the brunet found it comforting. He then realized Mark had closed the doors to make him feel more secure, more hidden and safe, as well as positioning the two of them so Mark would be between him and the doors. And the rumbling, although soft, made Jack feel at ease, almost as if the sound proved that Mark would be able to protect them.

Jack smiled softly and brought a hand up to hold onto Mark’s arm that was over him, silently thanking the other and knowing it was understood through the prompts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some of you may have noticed the rating change and some other stuff; this story is kind of floating around in the air right now (if that makes any sense). I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it just yet; I might make it T rated and edit ch 8, I might just take another break and keep the story going how I originally planned it with mature rating, I might (and this is purely just a thought right now) get a co-author just to have a buddy and work things out with this. I really do love this story and I want to give it a good ending and good scenes and fluff and love and all that cuteness, but for now we'll just have to wait and see.
> 
> Jack's friend was purposely written as vague (because I haven't yet decided who I want to be the friend yet, but I do have an idea)
> 
> Feel free to comment about anything, maybe your thoughts on this chapter or something you're looking forward to; I love reading them ^^
> 
> Also, I made a [tumblr](https://galaxykitty42.tumblr.com/) and you can find me at galaxykitty42  
> I'd love to see you there; I'm friendly! I'm planning on posting some cute little inspirational drawings there so feel free to come visit if you need some cheering up <3


	10. Strawberry Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rating is just going to be changing all over the place at this point
> 
> Once the book is done it'll be set at something, though. I'll figure it out when we get there.

Jack woke up in the darkness of the closet; the doors being closed preventing him from knowing about what time it was. He guessed it was most likely around morning, though, and he felt like he got enough rest. His back was still facing Mark, and as he slowly turned around in the other’s arms, he saw that the other looked to still be in deep sleep. The brunet moved around a bit, trying to position himself in a more comfortable spot, but as he nuzzled his face underneath the raven-haired man’s chin, he heard the man grumble and slowly start to wake up.

Mark’s arm that was still resting over the brunet moved to rub the other’s back lightly and he blinked his eyes open as he tilted his head down. He mumbled Jack’s name but the brunet shook his head softly and finished making himself comfortable, arm hugging the other as well.

“Go back to sleep.” Jack murmured and placed a gentle kiss on the other’s neck.

“Mm… wha’ time ‘s it…” The older man mumbled back but closed his eyes again and leaned his head back on the cushion.

“Doesn’t matter.” 

It didn’t take much convincing to get the older man to fall back asleep and Jack had a hunch that he stayed up for a while last night after the nightmare even when the brunet had fallen asleep.

Jack didn’t end up falling asleep again and instead only lightly dozed for a bit, still conscious about his surroundings, but it was still relaxing. He listened to the steady breathing of the other for a while, slow and calm as he dreamed, and he thought about what he should do later today. He was still a little unnerved at the idea of other people being bitter towards him, and maybe even try to hurt him, because he was a wolf. An idea came to mind and he thought it might make him feel better, though, so he decided to ask Mark about it once he woke up.

They stayed in the closet bed for about two more hours before the older finally stirred awake again. This time, the raven-haired man sat up and stretched as he sat crossed legged on the cushion. The brunet smiled and sat up himself, putting his legs straight out in front of himself as he rolled his shoulders back.

“Mornin’.” The younger yawned and crawled over to the closet doors to open them up.

He squinted at the brightness, windows not having closed blinds as the light streamed into the room. Mark stood up first and walked out of the closet, picking up their clothes laying outside and presumably walking them over to the laundry room. Jack stayed sitting in the closet bed for a bit as he thought about his idea and guessed he should make breakfast first. He pushed himself off the floor, looking down at his boxers and pausing for a moment before deciding to just walk downstairs in those.

He walked down to the kitchen, grabbing ingredients for waffles and mixed them together quickly. He grabbed the waffle maker out from one of the bottom drawers and set it up, plugging it into one of the outlets by the counter and once everything was prepared, he poured the waffle batter into the iron plating. Mark walked into the room a few moments later, not wearing any new clothing as well, and made himself a glass of lemonade as he leaned against the counter next to the brunet.

“What are you making this time?” He asked, taking a sip from his drink.

The brunet gestured to the waffle maker, nodding his head in emphasis as he replied.

“Waffles.”

“Of course.” Mark chuckled. “Waffles in our underwear.”

“Is that not how you’re supposed to make waffles?”

“No, this is exactly how to make waffles.”

Once their breakfast finished cooking, Jack opened the lid to the cooker and used a fork to take out the two waffles that were made, putting one on two plates and handed one to the older. They dressed up the plate with syrup and Jack added a few cut pieces of strawberries to the side of this plate and the two of them ate together at the table.

“I was thinking about going to the store today to pick up some more groceries.” Mark said between bites of the waffle, looking off to the side as he thought. “I noticed we were getting low on a few things.”

Jack nodded as he chewed on a piece of waffle himself, thinking about his own idea and guessing now was a good time as ever to ask.

“I had something I wanted to do this morning, if you’d be okay with it.”

Mark perked up at that, turning his attention back towards the younger man as he made a soft “oh” sound.

“What’d you want to do?”

“You mentioned it before…” The brunet started, pursing his lips. “I wanted to go with you this time for one of those little patrols you do.”

“Oh!” Mark smiled and Jack began to think of him as an excited puppy with a tail wagging happily. “Of course! We can go right after breakfast.”

Mark ate quickly after that, causing the younger man to giggle and try to finish his breakfast just as quickly.

After they cleaned up their empty plates and Jack wiped down the waffle maker, the two of them stepped outside and stood on the back porch.

“Okay, so today will just be a simple check. All you’ll have to do is follow me.”

“That’s it?” Jack huffed a smile.

“Well… we don’t need to refresh any borders and this is a quiet area so we’d just walk around to make sure nothing seems out of place.”

“Okay.” The brunet smiled and hopped down onto the grass to shift, leaving a pair of sweats on the porch for when he returned.

Mark smiled and shifted himself, padding over to the brown wolf and nuzzling his side before leading the way out into the forest.

The older man was right; their journey was quiet and peaceful. They would come across other animals in the forest and watch as their ears perked up before they darted away at the sight of the larger wolves. It was a nice type of quiet, though, and Jack felt his mind slowly start to relax as they padded along under the morning’s light through the leaves of the trees.

However, Mark’s territory was larger than he expected. It wasn’t the entire forest, not nearly as much, and Jack guessed that a single wolf wouldn’t want too much anyway, but they spent the entire morning walking through it all. They came across the dirt path that lead to the town eventually, seeing that they circled around the house and were getting close to the end of the patrol, and the brunet caught the older wolf gazing out towards the town. He didn’t stay looking there for long, turning back to glance at the brunet and looked as if he smiled a little before leading the way back through the trees to finish their route.

Soon they made it back to where they started, not too far off from the house, and Mark circled around Jack like an energetic puppy. The brunet huffed and playfully swatted at him with a paw, eventually getting the two of them to travel back to the house and shift back to humans. They each put on a pair of sweats and Mark was the first to step back inside the house, flopping down onto the couch with a sigh and a smile.

“That was a nice morning stroll.” The raven-haired man hummed.

Jack smiled back and walked over to him, carefully sitting in the other’s lap as he snuck his arms around the other’s chest and rested his head down on the other’s shoulder.

“Awwe…” Mark smiled softly as he wrapped his arms around the brunet as well, angling his head towards the other’s.

It was quiet once more as the two of them stayed like that, warm and relaxed in each other’s arms. The raven-haired man murmured that he liked having moments like this, just being able to be with one another, and he liked how open the brunet was about just walking up and cuddling. Jack smiled and booped the other’s neck with his nose.

“I told you before…” The brunet murmured as he closed his eyes and snuggled in closer. “I like cuddles… ‘n I feel safe with you.”

He felt Mark smile at that and kiss his cheek, arms holding him tightly as he swayed them side to side a little.

“And we’ll keep it like that… you won’t have to worry about anything… we’ll both be safe.” The raven-haired man murmured back.

Jack felt himself chuckle a little at that, smiling more as he swayed with the movement of the other, but huffed from another thought.

“I feel kind of bad, though.” The brunet mumbled and Mark paused.

“About what?” He asked.

“It feels like you’re doing everything, taking time to teach me about wolf stuff and making sure I’m doin’ alright, you do those patrols and make sure there isn’t any trouble, and you make all our meals if I don’t beat you to the kitchen first. You even went to that wolf gathering to get stuff for me.” Jack puffed as he sat up on the other’s lap, but he couldn’t help but smile a little when he saw Mark’s face. “I feel like a bump on a log sometimes, just sittin’ around doing nothing.”

“Jack.” Mark smiled back and cupped his cheeks, playfully squishing them together as the brunet pouted. “I didn’t want to admit this because I was feeling dumb about it myself, but I’m living in _your_ house where you have the job and pay the bills and buy the food we eat. You’re the one who is paying for everything.”

Jack blinked and thought about it for a second before he started laughing softly and cupped Mark’s cheeks back.

“I hadn’t thought about that.” He responded and smiled more when the raven-haired man made a funny face at him.

“I may be good with the wolfy things we have to do.” Mark started and grabbed Jack’s hands, intertwining their fingers together. “But you’re the one who’s good with the human things.”

Jack chuckled more at that, finding it odd to say he was good with “human things”, but his mind was feeling better about it none the less. He leaned forward to peck the older man’s lips, feeling warm and content through the prompts, and felt the older man put his hands on his hips.

“So, you’re okay now?” Mark smiled and the brunet nodded, booping their noses together with a soft hum.

“You’re too nice.” The brunet added, closing his eyes once more. “Such a softie.”

“Says the boy who demands cuddles every night.”

“Boo.”

“Boo you.”

Jack was about to say something back to continue with the teasing, but a tone from his phone made him pause and get off the other’s lap to check it.

“Oh shit!” The brunet yelped and clumsily stumbled off the couch.

“What? What happened?” Mark pursed his lips.

“He’s on his way here already! I didn’t realize he was already in town! Dude, we need to get dressed, go put on something nice!”

With that, Jack ran over to his bedroom, skipping past half of the stairs as he dashed to the room and changed his sweats to jeans and put on a nice simple buttoned shirt. He quickly walked into the connected bathroom, grabbing a comb and fixing his hair up as he saw Mark slowly walk into the bedroom in the reflection of the mirror.

“Hurry up!” Jack said in a rush, though smiling to show he was excited.

He ran back downstairs, fixing up everything that he thought looked out of place and made sure there weren’t any dirty dishes laying around until he heard the rumbling of pebbles from a car stopping at the house.

“Mark! He’s here!” The brunet hollered out to the bedroom where the raven-haired man was still hiding.

Jack then ran over to the front door, leaving the home to see the new visitor turning off the car as he grabbed a bag from the passenger side and opened the door to get out. The visitor seemed hesitant, slinging the bag over his shoulder as he slowly walked over to the front of the house where Jack stood.

The brunet’s smile turned to one that was confused, tilting his head to the side as he watched his friend act almost afraid, like he wasn’t sure if this was the right place. There was a calming scent of flowers in the air as well; maybe rose with a hint of strawberry. It was his friend, though; Jack recognized him. He then saw his friend tense up and pause in place, lowering his head slightly, and Jack turned his own head to watch Mark, now wearing his own pair of jeans and a flannel, leave the front door and walk over to him. The raven-haired man stepped up to the dark-haired blonde, the two of them eyeing each other for a quick moment, then Mark held his hand out with a friendly smile.

“Hello, I’m Mark.” He greeted warmly and the blonde immediately relaxed and shook his hand.

“Robin. Pleased to meet you.”

Jack smiled at the two of them once more, gesturing for the two of them to come back inside as they stepped onto the front porch and walked inside to the living room. Robin immediately started laughing as he stepped into the room, nerves finally gone from before.

“It would’ve been nice to know.” The strawberry blonde smiled. “I was worried there for a second.”

“What?” Jack frowned once more and this time Mark was the one to laugh.

“He’s new.”

“I figured.” Robin grinned. “Well, at least he wasn’t one when we were friends before I left for work.”

“I’m confused.” Jack restated. “What?”

“You being a werewolf.” The blonde smiled.

“… what?” Jack said for the third time.

“Robin’s a wolf too.” Mark chuckled.

“Yeah, and I thought I was going to visit my old human friend and instead I drive up to the house to realize I’m on someone else’s marked territory, not to mention I had no clue who the Alpha was. For all I knew, I was going to be seen as a trespasser.”

“You’re a…” Jack frowned… and then it clicked. “Oooh, so that’s why you smell like flowers.”

Both of the other wolves started laughing aloud at that, walking over to the couches to sit down as Jack followed to do the same.

“I can say I’ve never heard someone say that to me before, but I’ll take it as a compliment.” Robin smiled and Mark grinned as he put an arm over the brunet’s shoulders.

“What is this… your fourth month as a wolf?” Mark questioned as he looked at the brunet and he nodded.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Oh, you’re like a pup still.” Robin cooed and Jack felt himself start to blush from embarrassment.

“’M not a baby.” Jack pouted lowly and the others chuckled.

“I like your friend.” Mark snickered and the brunet whacked his shoulder.

“I may be wrong…” The blonde started as he looked between the two of them. “But am I right in thinking what I’m thinking here?” He asked vaguely as he pointed a finger at them and motioned the two of them being together.

To answer, Mark leaned over and kissed the brunet’s cheek, causing the younger to giggle and swat at him some more, pushing his face away.

“Don’t do that.” Jack tried to frown but Robin was already smiling at the two of them.

“I haven’t even been here for five minutes yet and this is already cute.”

“My dignity.” Jack pouted.

“What? Is your pride as a man falling from being cute?” Mark teased and the brunet pouted more.

“Why is this suddenly about me?” Jack grumbled, getting up to walk over to the kitchen and get something to drink.

“Ah, it’s so nice to see an old friend again and get away from that project. I missed this place.” Robin said, deciding to spare the brunet by changing the subject.

“I’ve heard a little bit about that, how was it there?” Mark asked.

“Oh, I’m an author and I wrote this one story and then it got hectic and then there were people who wanted documentaries and then there was filming and then other authors got involved and it was all over the place. Then they started this other project to try to get us all together to do a group story and spread the word about whatever company was promoting us, you know, all that type of stuff. Some of it was really fun, I got to travel around a lot when the other writers and I were sent to go find inspiration at certain locations, and they were all cool people, but then there were some towns that had a lot of exposers and I didn’t need the extra stress from that.”

“Exposers?” Jack questioned as he walked back into the living room with a glass of water in his hand.

“People who are against wolves and want to expose them out into the public; you don’t want that to happen.” Robin clarified and the brunet tightened his grip on the cup.

“Oh… is it… really that bad?”

“Jack…” Mark hummed sadly and wrapped an arm around the younger’s shoulders once more as he kissed the younger’s temple softly, not wanting to do too much since they were still in front of the other man. “There isn’t anyone like that around here.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely.” Robin agreed. “This place is soo nice compared to the others I’ve been to. I hardly see anyone really out of place here; that’s why I missed it. Not to mention the really cool scenery we have here; you have a forest as a backyard!”

Jack nodded and tried to lighten up at that.

“I guess I’m just a little scared of the idea of it. I’m still new to this whole thing.”

“Don’t worry.” The blonde tried to reassure, then looked over at the raven-haired man. “Are you a born wolf?”

Mark nodded and the blonde smiled more.

“Jack, both of us are born wolves, trust us when we say there’s nothing to be freaking out about. Yes there are people like that and yes it could be dangerous, but it’s the same as freaking out over a plane crash when you aren’t even on a plane. I’m sure Mark will tell you if something suspicious is going on, but until that happens, you’re going to be just fine.”

The brunet leaned his head down onto Mark’s shoulder, sighing lightly but smiling a little as well.

“Thanks.” He murmured and the mood lightened up once more.

“So, Robin, you’re an author… tell me about this book of yours that got hectic.” Mark started and the blonde smiled widely at that.

“Okay, so it all started on a normal day like most books start, but then we get the call to adventure-“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then Robin tells the story of Twilight-  
> Just kidding, I would cry if that happened, that book has no place in my story.
> 
> But do ya get it? Strawberry blonde? Strawberry scent? Eh? EH? EEHEH???  
> I think I'm clever  
> I'll pretend I'm clever
> 
> Feel free to comment! I love them and I read all of them and last chapter was amazing! Some of you started talking to each other and were thinking of ideas and it was so cool and it gave me some plot ideas myself! I didn't reply to most of you though because most were talking about Robin or the hunters or ideas like it and I didn't want to outright spoil it like "yep the friend is a wolf", I like to have a bit of mystery. I would love to hear what you guys are thinking and your supportive comments are super heartwarming too <3


	11. Brush and Brush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes I'm still here!!
> 
> I wrote this chapter between classes, but gosh college is tiring. I managed to get this chapter over 3k words but I feel like the rest of the chapters might be shorter because I don't have as much time to write (and I'm tired y'all!)
> 
> ~~The title chapter is me quoting Tangled, it was originally "Brush and Brush (and Brush and Brush My Hair)" I'm tireddd and naming every single chapter is harrddd~~

“So, have you written anything big lately?” Robin asked the brunet as the two of them were sitting in Jack’s art room.

Although the brunet primarily focused on his artistic projects, he did occasionally write stories and he has a few short ones done and tucked away on his computer. Robin was the reason he started writing in the first place. When the two of them met, the strawberry blonde would describe some of his ideas and told the brunet how fun it was to bring his ideas to life like that for others to read. It was similar to his paintings in a way, drawing out his ideas in the form of a picture to show to others, and Jack thought it might be nice to try writing some things down.

Jack was currently painting on a large white canvas in the room, Robin sitting on a stool next to him watching while also flipping through a note book. The blonde had commented on the wolf paintings here and there, though Jack had told him he missed the majority of those paintings that he already sold.

“I have a story that I’m working on I guess you could consider ‘big’.” The brunet said, answering Robin’s earlier question. “But I’ve been focusing more on my drawings than writing. It’s more of a story that I write a little bit of whenever I have some time and I have an idea. It’s kind of slow.”

“Ah, well that’s a fine way to go about it.” Robin smiled softly as he crossed his legs oddly on the stool, looking funny since there wasn’t much room on the seat for him to sit like that. “You shouldn’t rush yourself. When the ideas come to you, then you can relax and write it, and if you need some time, then you relax and not write it.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Jack chuckled, watching as his brush added another stroke onto the canvas.

They had stayed in that room for a while; Robin would talk about his stories and discuss ideas while Jack listened and painted. It was nice. The brunet enjoyed listening to the other; he would smile and toss out ideas himself, letting the two of them laugh and joke around. It really was nice to have another friend to talk to. Mark had left a while ago saying that they still needed to pick up groceries so the others took the time to catch up with each other. Robin wanted to know all about his first days as a wolf and the brunet felt himself groan, though he chuckled afterwards.

“I think I can confidently say that the first month sucked.” He said and the blonde nodded with a smirk.

“Yeah, I’ve always heard things like that. Turned without realizing it, right?”

“Yep.”

Jack went on to explain his experience, talking about the day he was bitten, how Mark would follow him around as a wolf, his first full moon, and the months following that until they were where they are now. Robin would listen in interest, sometimes commenting on things and explaining a bit about wolves himself, and mentioned how he was always curious about other wolves’ stories since he was born a wolf and experiences things differently.

“Mark is a good teacher, though.” Jack added as he thought about the past months and smiled softly. “He’s patient and understanding.”

“And that’s good! I’m glad you have him to help.”

They talked a bit more and the blonde eventually set his notes down and walked over to the back door with a small hop in his step as he opened the door. Jack had put away the paints and cleaned up the room before he followed the blonde out.

“It’s a nice backyard, huh?” Jack hummed, hands in his pockets as he looked out towards the line of trees in the forest.

“We should run.” Robin said brightly as he turned around to face the brunet, smile growing. “And I want to see what you look like as a wolf too.”

“W…what?” Jack blinked, caught off guard as he frowned a bit.

“It’s not everyday you find out one of your old friends is a wolf, that and I haven’t been able to go out as much when I was working. I don’t really remember the last time I hung out with another wolf friend, either.”

“Oh…”

Robin seemed to notice the hesitance and tilted his head to the side.

“Is something wrong?” He asked and the brunet pursed his lips.

“I’m… worried I guess.” Jack mumbled.

“Still thinking about the others? The exposers and all that?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s okay, I understand, but you said you and Mark went on a patrol before I got here, right? Trust me, I should be the one worried here since I’m in an area I’m not too familiar with, seeing as the last time I was here was such a long time ago, but I know there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t know…” Jack muttered and frowned more when he thought about the patrol.

He wasn’t worried then and he had shifted during that. It didn’t feel the same when he thought about going back to the forest now, though.

“It’s because Mark isn’t here, huh?” The blonde asked, causing the other to look back with wide eyes.

“I… it’s not… I mean-”

“Don’t worry!” Robin chuckled warmly and clapped his hands in front of himself. “You’re still new to all of this, but that means I can help and explain things too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sit, sit!” Robin smiled widely as he sat down himself, patting the grass in front of him as the brunet sat down with a hint of confusion on his face. “This type of stuff is like second nature to born wolves, but you wouldn’t know.”

“Okay… what?” Jack asked with a goofy smile, still confused but more curious.

“Mark is your Alpha.” Robin started explaining. “He might have said something about it before, but one of the jobs an Alpha has is to keep their pack safe, and in turn, others feel safer when they’re with their Alpha. It’s an instinctual thing, it just happens.”

“Oh… I see.” Jack hummed, understanding why that would make sense.

“But!” The blonde continued. “Mark is also your mate and wolves feel more at ease with their mates.”

“Ah… I think Mark mentioned something about that too.”

“But!” The blonde said once more. “He’s also your mentor. New wolves usually have a mentor, and in the case of a person being turned from a bite, their mentor is generally the person who turned them. For you, Mark is the one who turned you and he is, in fact, your mentor.”

“Oh… wow, that’s a lot, huh.”

“He’s also really the only other wolf you know. So, all in all, the one person you’re comfortable being around isn’t here so you’re worried since you’re not too used to being on your own with this type of stuff.”

The brunet paused to think about it, looking down at the grass below, and hummed.

“It would be good for you to go out on a run without him, not saying that it’s bad to rely on him sometimes, but it’d be good for you to be able to relax during times like this in the future.” Robin added.

Jack looked back towards the forests, thinking through everything once more, and eventually nodded.

“You’re right.” He hummed and the blonde smiled. “Yeah, it’d be nice to… do something that’ll tell myself it’s okay.”

“Alright!” Robin grinned and put a hand on the grass to push himself back up.

Jack took a second to go back to the house to check his phone and grab some sweats, and when he stepped back outside, he saw a mixed-blonde wolf standing out on the grass. He set the sweats on the back porch and stepped down to the yard, watching as the wolf bounded over to him with a smile. It was still stunning to see a wolf in person like this; they’re beautiful creatures, always bigger than he thinks, and majestic yet he knows deep down they’re also dorks.

The brunet pet the top of the blonde wolf’s head, taking a moment to look at the wolf’s coat, a mixture of blondes and light brown, as the wolf stood in a proud posture. However, Robin didn’t stand still for long and eventually turned around to dash off into the forest, leaving Jack alone in the yard. He huffed, looking past the trees where the other wolf had disappeared, and lifted his shirt up over his head to get undressed so he could shift as well.

Once he had finally removed his clothes and felt his muscles change with the shift, he stretched and followed the other’s path at a casual pace. He could see a faint trail of paw prints, more prominent compared to the other tracks in the dirt, and found that the path led him to the lake in the forest. He felt himself chuckle, if wolves could chuckle, seeing the other wolf goofing off in the shallow end of the water. Robin then perked up when he saw the brunet and hopped out of the water over to him, sitting down with a huff as the two of them looked at one another. It was calm, though, and Jack took the time to relax as the wind ruffled his fur. Maybe this _was_ what he needed, time to be at ease and prove to himself that everything is still okay.

Robin stood up, looking back at the continuation of the forest, and his tail swayed a bit as his head motioned over in that direction. Jack knew what he wanted, eyes following the other’s gaze, and felt the wolf part of him want to run too. He made a small huff, shaking his fur as he walked quietly behind the other, then without any warning, took off in a sprint. He was getting familiar with the forest, learning a few of the trees and paths from his past explorations, and ran through it all with ease. He jumped over roots and fallen branches, turned quickly to avoid other trees, and felt his paws thud on the grass below. He felt himself smile, loving the feeling of the wind brushing past him with his muscles pushing him to go faster, and saw a blur at his side. He recognized it as Robin and the blonde wolf barked a challenge, the two of them jumping over another obstacle in their path before they started racing one another.

The brunet had a small lead, knowing the area better than the other, but the other caught up quickly. Jack didn’t have a good chance to see the blonde clearly, needing to keep his eyes on the path ahead of him, but he saw the other wolf do some type of trick as they pushed off of a log in their path. Jack yipped in protest, upset at the other for getting ahead, and Robin just barked back with a grin. The brunet was almost able to take his lead back, knowing a shortcut he could take through another path, but the blonde was faster. He guessed that the born wolf had a few tricks he learned through the years while Jack was still considered a pup. 

They ended up circling back around to the lake, slowing down to a halt once they reached the water, and the blonde wolf had clearly won their little race. Jack pouted and bumped shoulders with the other, almost knocking him into the shallow end, but the other just seemed to be amused by that. The brunet briefly did think about going for a swim, knowing the cool water would be a nice feel against his fur after they had just gone on a run, but he suddenly felt a subtle hum in his mind. He could recognize it as the prompts, though this one was harder to make out as he lifted his head and looked in the direction of the house. Maybe Mark had returned home and was wondering where he was?

Robin had perked up as well, noticing the change in the brunet’s stance and looked back at the house as he probably guessed what had happened. He nudged the brunet and started heading back to the house, looking over his shoulder as he motioned for the other to follow, and the two of them walked at a steady pace. Once they had gotten closer to the edge of the forest, trees lightening up as it got easier to see past them all, Jack was able to make out the small figure of the raven-haired man standing by the porch in the distance. The brunet felt himself speed up, changing to a light jog, and watched the other man’s face light up when he saw the two wolves approach. He went back into the house for a moment and returned with a brush in his hand, stepping down onto the grass as they all met up.

“You look like you had a nice time.” Mark smiled, setting the brush on the grass as he kneeled down and ruffled the fur of Jack’s cheeks in his hands. “You look happy.”

The brunet leaned into the touch of Mark’s left hand, watching as the raven-haired man used the other hand to pet behind his ear and down to his neck. Brown eyes met blue and the older man grabbed the brush as he started brushing out the fur of Jack’s neck.

“I’ve always wanted to take a moment to look at you like this.” The older hummed softly as he moved the brush slowly. “You have very beautiful blue eyes; a lovely color that goes with your fur.”

Jack let out a puff of air as he shook his head to purposely mess up the fur, causing the other to pull the brush back and frown, though not upset.

“You’re a goof.” The other man chuckled and lifted one of Jack’s paws up, inspecting the pad and claws. “Oh, you have such nice paws too, and these claws are quite something. Like your teeth, sharp teeth for a sharp smile.” He grinned, poking the brunet’s nose as he continued, though his voice started getting a little higher pitched and playful. “And your ears are adorable; they’re so soft and cute.” He then leaned in to rest their foreheads together as he fluffed the other’s fur. “You are just a beautiful wolf, such a-“

He got cut off as they heard a thud, both looking to the side to see that Robin had fallen over ungracefully on his side, staring back at the two of them as he stuck his tongue out a bit at them. Mark called him jealous and stuck his tongue out too, though Jack thought it was funny and wiggled his way out of the raven-haired man’s arms only to flop over as well, imitating the other wolf. Mark was quiet for a moment, blinking at the other, and sighed.

“Well now there’s two of them.”

Jack wanted to laugh as he stuck his paws out, sliding them across the grass, and the older man pouted as he crawled over to him and poked his belly.

“You and Robin making fun of me?” He asked, hand starting to rub the brown wolf’s stomach as the brunet rolled over more. “I think y’all making fun of me.”

The raven-haired man put both of his hands on the wolf’s stomach as he ruffled the fur more, talking in a goofy voice. Neither of them noticed when Robin shifted back, finding his clothes and slipping on his pants as he walked up behind the older man.

“You bought some groceries, right? Would you mind if I made something to eat? I can cook something for everyone.” The blonde asked.

Mark turned his head and quickly stood up, nodding as he brushed off the dirt from his pants.

“Of course! Let me show you some stuff in the kitchen.” The older smiled and the two of them walked back into the house, leaving the brown wolf alone.

Jack rolled back over, standing up on all fours and saw his sweats waiting on the back porch, but he also saw the brush sitting on the grass as well. Mark didn’t brush him for very long, easily getting distracted, but it felt nice. Kind of like a fuzzy massage and the brunet finally understood why other animals liked being pet so much. It was a warm feeling.

He stepped over to the brush, carefully picking it up in his mouth, and walked back into the house. The others left the door slightly open, letting the wolf get inside, and found the two of them in the kitchen. He waited patiently in the living room, watching the others move around in the room as the raven-haired man showed the blonde where the main supplies and tool in the kitchen were. After that was done, Mark had looked outside to see if the brunet was still there but noticed him sitting in the living room. He saw the brush, realizing right away what that meant, and his eyes widened. He sat down by the brunet, taking the brush from the other, and resumed brushing the fur of the wolf’s shoulder.

“You’re adorable.” He murmured as he watched the strands of fur pass through the brush.

Jack moved to lie down, resting his head on the other’s lap and closed his eyes as he focused on the brush. Mark’s hand would run through his fur as well, an alteration between the two movements, and they both relaxed. The brunet felt his breathing ease as his mind calmed its thoughts.

It’s okay. There’s no use worrying about something that might not even happen. He had to trust the others; they knew the wolf world a lot more than he did and they told him everything would be alright.

His mind started to drift, tired from the day and his run through the forest, and the soothing motions of the brush and a hand through his fur eventually lulled him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry updates are so slooow, I got a lot of stuff going on and I'm not sure where this story is headed. I do have a rough idea, but I want each chapter to have something nice in it, not just writing for the heck of it, and I want to do my best to give this story a good ending as well.
> 
> Also I drew a [picture](https://galaxykitty42.tumblr.com/post/180470698350/this-was-originally-posted-on-my-deviantart-which) like... seven months ago at this point, but it was for this story, I just kept forgetting to link it here.
> 
> Also also on my tumblr I got an ask about this story that I said I would answer here, heck it was a few months ago and I forgot what I said to them, but it was something about their relationship and like who's top/bottom, but I think I explained a bit how I wasn't trying to make either character one or the other, I like having an equal relationship, and although Mark is the Alpha of our little pack, that doesn't make him on some higher plane of existence. Mark is Mark, Jack is Jack, they're both just a couple of dorks! :3


End file.
